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THE 


TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT: 


OK, 


THE  CONFLICT  BETWEEN  MAN 
AND  ALCOHOL. 


BY 

HENRY  WILLIAM  BLAIR, 

UNITED  STATES  SENATOii  FROM  NEW  HAMPSHIRE. 


BOSTON: 

WILLIAM  E.  SMYTHE  COMPANY, 

No.  5 Somerset  Street. 

1888. 


Copyright,  18S7,  by  H.  W.  Blair. 


gcr  the  ^fcXcraevtf 


OF 

MY  FATHER  AND  MOTHER. 


Henry  William  Blair. 


iTJirSTTOiSE  CUT 

to  jcmupjurr 

"TheTemperance  Movement 

(Jimflid  brttocrnfltan&Alnihiil' 


On  the  30th  day  of  April,  1886.  it  appeared 
from  the  record*  of  the  Board  of  Excise  Com- 
missioners, that  there  were  916S  Licence*  to 
sell  intoxicating  liquor  in  force  in  the  city, 
and  1000  place*,  by  estimate,  were  selling 
without  licence*.  Total  number  of  saloons  or 


PREFACE. 


The  conflict  between  man  and  alcohol  is  as  old  as  civiliza- 
tion, more  destructive  than  any  other  form  of  warfare,  and 
as  fierce  to-day  as  at  any  time  since  the  beginning. 

It  is  not  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  no  other  evil  known 
in  human  history  has  been  of  such  vast  proportions  and 
lamentable  consequences  as  that  of  alcoholic  intemperance. 
As  the  whole  past  6f  the  race  has  been  cursed  by  it,  so  its 
whole  future  is  threatened  with  increasing  calamity,  unless 
there  be  a period  put  to  its  ravages. 

It  is  a peculiarity  of  this  curse  that  it  is  developed  by 
civilization,  and  then,  like  the  parricide,  it  destroys  the 
source  of  its  own  life. 

But  although  alcohol  is  his  special  foe,  it  by  no  means 
confines  its  dagger  and  chalice  to  civilized  man. 

Combining  with  the  spirit  of  a mercenary  commerce,  this 
active  essence  of  evil  is  hunting  and  extirpating  the  weaker 
races  and  indigenous  populations  of  uncivilized  countries 
from  the  face  of  the  earth. 

The  object  of  this  book  is,  if  possible,  to  arrest  the  atten- 
tion of  the  American,  if  of  no  other  people ; to  place  before 
them  the  leading  facts  which  enter  into  the  great  debate  now 
pending  on  our  own  and  the  European  continents,  and  to 
assist  man,  however  feebly,  in  this  great  struggle  with 
alcohol  for  his  life. 

The  plan  attempted  has  been  to  place  clearly  before  the 
mind  the  nature  of  alcohol  as  a poison  to  the  healthy  human 
system ; its  destructive  effects  upon  the  body  and  soul  of  its 
victim  ; to  portray  its  ti’emendous  proportions  and  malignant 
influence  upon  society,  nations  and  races  of  men ; to  discuss 
the  remedies  of  this  great  evil  by  the  exercise  of  moral  sua- 
sion and  educative  forces,  both  spiritual  and  physical,  and 


E 


IX 


X 


PREFACE. 


by  the  action  of  society  in  the  enactment  and  enforcement  of 
law.  This  is  followed  by  some  account  of  the  organizations 
and  agencies,  religious,  secular  and  political,  -which  are  and 
must  be  engaged  in  the  effort  to  remove  the  gigantic  evil 
and  crime  of  alcoholic  intemperance  from  the  world. 

The  plan  has  failed  in  execution  unless  it  be  found  that 
this  book  contains  a systematic  and  comprehensive  discussion 
of  the  evil  and  of  its  appropriate  remedy  ; but  it  cannot  be 
hoped  that  so  vast  and  important  a subject  is  treated  in  a 
single  volume  with  that  completeness  which  will  be  desired 
by  many. 

If  I shall  have  been  able  to  induce  others  with  greater 
powers  and  opportunities  to  perform  the  work  more  satis- 
factorily, I shall  rejoice  in  even  that  degree  of  success. 

The  views  of  the  author  upon  this  great  problem  are  not 
of  recent  formation,  and  their  former  expression  is  repeated 
in  parts  of  some  of  the  chapters  which  treat  of  remedial 
measures ; but  it  is  believed  that  the  public  will  not  regret 
the  restatement  of  facts  and  arguments  which  have  never 
been  refuted,  which  are  vital  to  the  subject,  and  new  to  the 
great  mass  of  the  people. 

The  truth  is  that  the  alcoholic  evil  is  now  the  subject  of 
a crucial  investigation,  such  as  the  public  mind  has  never 
before  given  to  it,  and  I believe  that  as  a result,  although 
the  end  may  be  long  delayed,  the  miserable  and  pernicious 
traffic  will  perish  forever,  execrated  by  man  and  consumed 
in  the  fiercest  flames  of  God’s  wrath. 

THE  AUTHOR. 

United  States  Senate, 

December,  1SS7. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

A BRIEF  STUDY  OF  ALCOHOL. 

Page 

Alcohol  as  a Superstition  — Its  Place  among  the  Gods  and  the 
Devils  of  Imagination  — The  Doubtful  Origin  of  Wine  and 
Ancient  Traditions  Concerning  It  — Discovery  of  Distillation 
in  the  Twelfth  Century  — How  Webster  and  Worcester  Define 
Alcohol  — Dr.  Richardson’s  Statement  of  its  Chemical  Proper- 
ties— The  Nature  of  Alcohol  and  its  Relation  to  the  Ele- 
ments of  our  own  Organism  — The  Foods  that  Nourish  the 
Body  and  the  Food  Properties  of  Alcohol  Compared  — The 
Process  of  Fermentation  — The  Process  of  Distillation  — 
Name  and  Strength  of  Various  Alcoholic  Preparations  — 
Alcohol  the  Product  of  Man’s  Ingenuity  and  not  of  Nature  . 1 


CHAPTER  n. 

EFFECT  OF  ALCOHOL  UPON  THE  HUMAN  BODY  AND  SOUL. 

Liquor  as  an  Article  of  Commerce  — Alcohol  in  the  Body  — Im- 
portance of  Medical  Testimony  — The  Development  of  Drunk- 
enness during  the  Past  Three  Centuries  — The  Experiments 
of  Lallemand,  Perrin  and  Duroy  — A Terrier  Dog  under  the 
Influence  of  Liquor  — The  Latest  Demonstrations  of  Dr. 
Richardson  — How  Alcohol  Travels  with  the  Blood,  and  what 
it  does  on  its  Travels  — Experiments  of  Parkes  and  Wallowicz 
on  a Healthy  Man  — How  his  Heart  was  Affected  by  Alcohol 
— Effect  of  the  Social  Glass  at  a Dinner  Party 14 


CHAPTER  III. 

ALCOHOL  NOT  A FOOD. 

Can  it  be  a Very  Bad  and  a Very  Good  Thing  at  the  Same  Time  ? — 
How  Ale  and  Beer  Fatten  — Dr.  Richardson’s  Examination  of 
the  Qualities  of  Alcohol  as  a Food  — No  Claim  to  Efficacy 
in  Structure  Building  — The  Search  of  the  Physicians  for  a 


xi 


Xll 


CONTENTS. 


Virtue  in  Alcohol  — Four  Stages  of  Change  Produced  on  the 
Body  by  Liquor  — How  Alcohol  gets  out  of  the  Body  — If  it 
is  not  a Food,  there  is  No  Occasion  for  its  Consumption  as  a 
Drink 


CHAPTER  IV. 

ALCOHOL  AGAINST  THE  BODY. 

Dr.  Richardson’s  Investigations  Continued  — Experiments  with  a 
Frog  — Alcohol  as  a Regular  Stimulant  a Delusion  — How 
Light  Drinkers  are  Affected  — Effect  on  the  Heart  and  Other 
Organs  — How  Disease  is  Originated  — When  the  Memory 
becomes  a Victim  of  the  Habit—  Gradual  Steps  of  Physical 
Regeneration  through  Use  of  Liquor 

CHAPTER  V. 

SCIENTIFIC  INVESTIGATIONS. 

When  Liebig’s  Theory  was  Supreme  — Alcohol  in  the  Brain  of  a 
Dead  Debauchee  — The  Alcoholic  Alphabet — How  the  Liquor 
gets  out  of  the  Body  — Is  it  Poison,  Food,  or  Medicine?  — 
How  the  Dictionaries  define  the  Terms  — Dr.  Hammond’s  Ex- 
periments with  a Dog  — His  List  of  Diseases  Created  by  the 
use  of  Alcohol  — His  Letter  to  the  Author  — Literal  Meaning 
of  the  Word  “Intoxication”  — The  use  of  Poisons  for  Medi- 
cal Purposes  — The  use  of  Beer  — Its  Stupefying  Effects  on 
its  Devotees  — The  Cruel  Results  which  have  followed  the 
wide  use  of  Beer  — How  Old  Appetites  have  been  Awakened 
and  New  Ones  Created 


CHAPTER  VI. 

ALCOHOL  AS  THE  CREATOR  OF  DISEASE. 

Alcohol  as  the  Creator  of  Disease — Flow  it  attacks  the  Integrity 
of  the  Body  through  the  Blood  — Dr.  Dickinson’s  Account  of 
the  Diseases  it  Fosters  — The  Ally  of  Cholera  — Recollections 
of  the  Cholera  Epidemic  in  New  York,  1832  — Dr.  Beau- 
mont’s Experiments  — Striking  Illustration  of  the  Effects  of 
Drink  — The  Drunkard’s  Stomach,  Reproduced  in  Colors  — 
The  Curse  of  Intemperance  transmitted  to  Posteritj’  — Start- 
ling Facts  from  Experience  — The  History  of  Four  Genera- 
tions of  a Family  of  Drunkards  — The  Causes  of  Insanity  — 
Intemperance  Leading  them  All 


CONTENTS. 


XIII 


CHAPTER  VII. 

ALCOHOL  AND  LENGTH  OF  LIFE. 

Investigations  of  the  Subject  by  Life  Insurance  and  Provident 
Associations — Human  Life  as  a Business  Commodity  — Ex- 
perience of  some  Great  English  Institutions  — Superior  Show- 
ing made  by  their  Temperance  Sections  — Cases  where  the 
Premiums  are  Reduced  Ten  Per  Cent,  for  Total  Abstainers  — 
Striking  Comparisons  shown  by  Diagrams — -Experience  of 
the  Sons  of  Temperance  — Mortality  among  Beer  Sellers  — 
Testimony  of  Leading  Insurance  Experts  — Letter  from  Chief 
Medical  Examiner  Lambert  of  the  Equitable  ......  98 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

ALCOHOL  IN  MEDICINE. 

Considerations  which  Influence  the  Body  of  Physicians  to  Pre- 
scribe it — Difficulties  they  Encounter  — Declarations  of  Noted 
Medical  Bodies  — Evidence  that  the  Physicians  were  Early 
Advocates  of  Moderation  — Resolutions  of  English  Bodies  — 

The  Views  of  Dr.  Stille  — A Physician  who  thinks  Alcohol 
Sometimes  Useful,  Necessary  and  Indispensable  — The  Opin- 
ions of  Dr.  Davis  on  the  Other  Side  — His  Dissection  of  the 
Arguments  for  Alcohol  — Review  of  Various  Investigations  — 
Letter  from  Dr.  Hargreaves — Dr.  Palmers  Statement  of  the 
Case  — Varying  Opinions  and  how  they  are  Sustained  — Dr. 
Rembaugli’s  Position  — Dr.  Wilder’s  Letter — Important  Con- 
clusions   116 


CHAPTER  IX. 

ALCOHOL  IS  PAUPERISM  AND  CRIME. 

The  Two  Great  Burdens  of  Society  — The  Difference  and  the  Like- 
ness between  Them  — What  the  Pauper  Returns  of  Massa- 
chusetts Show — Figures  and  Facts  from  Almshouse -Super- 
intendents— Sir  Matthew  Hale’s  Statement  of  the  Causes  of 
Crime — Experience  of  New  York  Officials  — What  Gover- 
nor Dix  said  in  1873  — Startling  Facts  about  the  Effects  of 
Beer  Drinking  by  Women  — A New  Hampshire  Opinion 
Based  on  Practical  Experience . 160 


XIV 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  X. 

INTEMPERANCE  AMONG  MANUAL  WORKERS. 

A Topic  that  is  Closely  Connected  with  the  Labor  Problem  — Testi- 
mony taken  by  the  Senate  Committee  — A Manchester  Carpen- 
ter’s Thoughtful  Observations  — Practical  Effect  of  the  Drink- 
ing Habit  on  the  Skilled  Trades  — Wages  and  the  Money 
Spent  for  Drinks  — Some  Considerations  Based  on  Tenth 
Census  Facts — Edward  Atkinson’s  Calculations  — George  E. 
McNeill’s  Contrary  Views  on  the  Subject  of  Economy  — Ilis 
Statement  of  the  Cost  of  Living — Mr.  Powderly’s  Answer  to 
a Critic  — A letter  in  which  he  Defends  his  Position  as  an 
Ultra  Temperance  Man — His  Presentation  of  the  Cost  of  the 
Drinking  Habit  to  Workingmen  — Testimony  of  Fall  River 
Mill  Hands  — Some  Final  Considerations  upon  the  Relation  of 
Temperance  to  the  Wage  and  Labor  Problems 


CHAPTER  XI. 

ALCOHOL  DESTROYS  THE  WEALTH  OF  THE  PEOPLE. 

Some  Things  that  are  Clear  in  Regard  to  the  Effects  of  Alcohol  — 
An  Invoice  of  the  Stock  in  Trade  of  an  Industry  of  Destruc- 
tion— The  Claim  that  Temperance  Statistics  are  Inflated  and 
Unreliable  — The  Demand  for  a Commission  of  Inquiry  — 
Col.  Switzler’s  Work  — The  Liquor  Production  of  the  United 
States  — A Table  Representing  a Gigantic  Business  Transac- 
tion— Remarkable  Increase  in  the  Use  of  Malt  Liquors  — 
Facts  Furnished  by  the  Brewers’  Association  — Letter  of  Louis 
Schode — Air.  Zimmerman’s  Figures — The  100,000  Annual 
Victims  — The  Figures  for  1886  — The  Cost  of  Drink  per 
Family  — The  Annual  Loss  to  the  Nation  — Demand  for  a 
Commission  of  Inquiry 


CHAPTER  XII. 

ALCOHOL  DESTROYS  THE  WEALTH  OF  THE  WORLD. 

The  Fate  of  all  Civilized  Nations  Affected  by  the  Liquor  Traffic  — 
Consumption  of  Spirits  in  the  United  Kingdom — The  Amount 
per  Capita — Money  enough  Spent  for  Liquor  from  1831  to 
1881  to  Purchase  the  Entire  United  Kingdom  — The  Case  in 
France  — The  Use  of  Liquor  Doubled  in  Forty  Years  — Re- 
port to  the  French  Government — The  Home  of  the  American 
Despot  — Telling  Facts  and  Figures  Showing  the  Vast  Extent 
of  the  Traffic  


CONTENTS. 


XV 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

ALCOHOL  THROUGHOUT  THE  WORLD. 

The  Trade  with  Africa,  Asia  and  the  Islands  of  the  Sea — How  it 
has  Followed  the  March  of  Discovery — The  Situation  in  the 
Valley  of  the  Congo  — The  Vice  of  Intemperance  almost 
Unknown  where  the  Mohammedan  Religion  Prevails  — Ad- 
vent of  the  European  Slave  and  Gin  Trade  — Testimony  of 
the  Missionaries  — Government  Influences  at  Work  in  South- 
ern Africa — A Heathen  Gough  — How  a Heathen  Tribe  Vig- 
orously Suppressed  the  Habit  and  the  Trade 255 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE  REMEDIES TOTAL  ABSTINENCE. 

Alcohol  the  Tyrant  of  all  Ages  and  Races  — Are  the  Chains  of  the 
Liquor  Habit  to  be  Perpetual?  Shall  there  be  a “ New  Eman- 
cipation”?— The  Forces  of  the  Temperance  Reform  until 
lately  a God-inspired  Mob  — A Great  War  before  us  — The 
Emancipation  of  Fifteen  Hundred  Millions — Agencies  to  be 
Employed  by  the  Organized  Army  of  Reform  Considered : 
Individual,  Associated  and  Political  — Personal  Total  Absti- 
nence a Recent  Evolution  of  Christian  Civilization  — The 
Dictum  of  Science  and  Duty 284 


CHAPTER  XV. 

EDUCATIONAL  FORCES. 

The  Policy  of  Prevention  — Education  of  the  Child  the  Secret  of 
Success  — Rescue  the  Drunkard;  but  Educate  the  Child  — 

— Home  the  Primary  Field  of  Action  — The  Church  Work  of 
Education  — The  Public  Schools  and  Scientific  Instruction  — 
“Temperance  Education  Law” — The  Bill  for  National  Aid 
to  Education  — Its  Principles  Stated  — Its  Bearing  on  the 
Temperance  Work  — Testimony  of  Public  Men  to  its  Merits 
and  Importance 295 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

“PERSONAL  LIBERTY”  AND  PUBLIC  LAW. 

The  Right  to  Fight  the  Rum  Traffic  by  Legislation  — The  Objec- 
tion urged  against  Prohibition  — The  Manufacture  and  Sale 


XVI 


CONTENTS. 


of  Liquors  in  the  Light  of  “an  Inalienable  Right” — “ Sump- 
tuary Laws”  Improperly  Defined  by  Hon.  Geo.  G.  Vest  as 
“Prohibitory  Legislation”  — The  Right  to  Oppose  the  Rum 
Traffic  Argued  — No  “Personal  Liberty”  to  Make  or  Sell 
Agencies  to  Produce  Crime  and  Murder  — The  Liquor  Traffic 
Considered  as  a “ Business  ” — Fundamental  Propositions  as  to 
Legislation  on  the  Liquor  Traffic 337 


CHAPTER  XYIT. 

WHICH  LAW,  LICENSE  OP.  PKOIIIBITION  ? 

The  Principles  Underlying  the  License  Idea  Discussed  — Prohibi- 
tion under  a Chinese  Emperor,  Four  Thousand  Years  Ago  — 

New  York  City  under  License  Mapped  and  Studied  as  a City 
of  Saloons  — The  Relative  Merits  of  License  and  Prohibition 
as  Means  of  Restriction  — “ Prohibition  Does  not  Prohibit”  an 
Absurdity  — Gov.  Dingley’s  Testimony — New  Hampshire  and 
Vermont 352 


CHAPTER  XYIH. 

NATIONAL  PKOIIIBITION. 

No  Other  Form  of  Real  Prohibition  Possible  — Control  the  Traffic 
from  Origin  to  End  — Necessity  of  Exerting  the  National 
Power  — National  Prohibition  the  Plan  of  Battle  — Prohibi- 
tion Amendment  to  National  Constitution  Presented  in  1S76 
— Its  Provisions  Noted  — The  Subject  Discussed  from  the 
National  Stand-point — Manufacture  as  well  as  Sale  must  be 
Prohibited — The  Temperance  Reform  most  needs  Nationali- 
zation-Concentrate on  National  Prohibitory  Amendment  to 
Constitution  — Right  and  Necessity  of  National  Legislation 
Discussed  — The  Amendment  Reviewed  — State  Prohibition 
and  National  Prohibition  Together  — National  Prohibitory 
Amendment  should  be  the  Preliminary  Bunker  Hill,  not  the 
Crowning  Yorktown 372 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

WOMAN  SUFFRAGE  AND  TEMPERANCE  REFORM. 

Woman’s  Kingdom,  the  Home,  at  Stake  — Woman  the  Greatest 
Barrier  to  Intemperance  — Temperance  is  Woman’s  War  — 
Rum  Destroys  the  Home  — Suffrage  of  Woman  IndisjDensable 
to  the  Temperance  Reform  — Human  Suffrage  the  True  Ideal 


CONTEXTS. 


XVII 


Woman  Suffrage  Discussed  — Senate  Committee’s  Report 

on  Suffrage  of  Woman  — Woman’s  Christian  Temperance 
Union,  an  Illustration  of  Woman’s  Ability  to  Shape  Action  — 
Ouida’s  Notions  about  Women  — Intelligent  Men  Concede 
Woman’s  Capacity  and  Moral  Fitness  — Suffrage  not  a Right 
Dependent  on  Sex  — To  Vote  the  Great  Primitive  Right- 
Maternity  does  not  Disqualify;  Motherhood  adds  Motives  — 
Mothers  can  Attend  Church,  why  not  the  Polls  ? — Objection 
that  Woman  does  not  Desire  Suffrage — Objection  that  Hus- 
band and  Wife  will  Disagree — Experience  of  Wyoming, 
Washington,  and  Kansas  — Women  Voting  has  made  Voting 
Respectable  — Senate  Report  on  Development  of  Woman 
Suffrage  — School  Suffrage  in  Eleven  States  — Speech  of  Hon. 
Albert  Griffin  — Free  Suffrage  for  All 397 


CHAPTER  XX. 

HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 

The  Temperance  Movement  an  Effort  of  Humanity  to  Unchain 
Itself  — The  Spirit  of  Liberty  as  Conceived  by  the  Fathers  of 
the  Republic  — Four  Valuable  Volumes  — Dr.  Benjamin  Rush’s 
Pamphlet  the  Starting  Point  of  the  Present  Movement  — Hon. 
Samuel  Dexter’s  Picture  of  the  Situation  in  1814  — The  Evil 
at  Later  Dates  — Rev.  Lyman  Beecher’s  Description  of  the 
“Creature  Comforts”  at  a Connecticut  Ordination  in  1810  — 
Churches  and  Religious  Associations  Awake  — American 
Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Temperance  Organized  1826  — 
Massachusetts  Medical  Society  Discourages  the  Use  of  Liquors, 

1827  — Rush,  Muzzey,  Davis  — Jonathan  Kittredge’s  Pamphlet 
— The  Famous  Massachusetts  Fifteen-Gallon  Law  — The 
Washingtonians  in  1840  — The  Maine  Law  — Neal  Dow  the 
Columbus  of  Prohibition  — For  Thirty-Five  Years  Temper- 
ance has  Moved  on  Abstinence  and  Prohibition 421 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

FORCES  AGAINST  ALCOHOL  — RELIGIOUS  ORGANIZATIONS. 

The  Two  Great  Principles,  Total  Abstinence  and  Prohibition  — 
Religious  Organizations  — “One  Hundred  Years  of  Temper- 
ance”— The  Roll-Call  of  the  Churches  — Presbyterian  Church 
— John  Wesley  and  the  Methodist  Champions  — The  Baptist 
Position  ; Gov.  George  N.  Briggs  and  Congressional  Temper- 
ance Society ; Wayland,  Knapp,  Garrison:  Mississippi  Conven- 


XV111 


CONTENTS. 


tion  of  1884  : Dr.  Gifford’s  Summary  — Reformed  Dutch  Church 
— Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  — Lutheran  Church  — 
Society  of  Friends  — United  Brethren  — Disciples  of  Christ  — 
Universalist  Church : Thompson,  Chapin  and  Miner  — Metho- 
dist Protestant  Church  — Congregational  Churches;  Hum- 
phrey, Evarts,  Beecher,  Justin  Edwards,  Cheever,  Gough, 
Wilson  and  others  — Episcopal  Church  — German  Reformed 
Church  — The  Moravians  — Reformed  Episcopal  — The  Uni- 
tarians; Lowell,  Channing,  Ware,  May,  Pierrepont,  Gannett, 

Hale,  Faxon  — Free  Baptist  Church  — Christian  Church  — 
Church  of  God  — United  Presbyterian  Church — African  Meth- 
odists— Evangelical  Association — Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
South — The  Unanimity  of  the  Churches  on  this  Great  Moral 
Issue 439 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH. 

(Important  Factor,  Seven  Million  American  Adherents  — American 
Catholic  Total  Abstinence  Union — Leo  XIII. ’s  Letter  to 
Bishop  Ireland,  1887  — Baltimore  Council ; Cardinal  Gibbons 
— Murray’s  “Catechism  of  Intemperance”  — Catholic  Total 
Abstinence  Union  Established  1872  — Father  Cleary  at  the 
Philadelphia  Temperance  Centennial  — Powderly,  Archbishop 
Ryan,  Bishop  Ireland;  Father  Mathew,  Cardinal  Manning, 
and  Father  Nugent  — Catholic  Temperance  Magazine  1887  : 

“The  Loss  of  our  Children” — Catholics  in  Labor  Organi- 
zations— Father  Conaty’s  Two  Addresses — “Total  Absti- 
nence Organized  on  Catholic  Principles  ” — The  Catholic 
Church  and  her  followers  will  eventually  demand  Prohibition,  472 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

TEMPERANCE  ORGANIZATIONS. 

The  National  Temperance  Society  and  Publication  House;  Agi- 
tation and  Literature;  “Total  Abstinence  and  Prohibition”; 
William  E.  Dodge  and  Theodore  Cuyler;  The  Temperance 
Advocate  — Independent  Order  of  Good  Templars;  Five  Mill- 
ion Members;  an  Organization  which  Belts  the  Globe;  Six 
Hundred  Thousand  Meetings  a Year;  the  Ritual  in  a Dozen 
Languages ; the  Lamented  Hon.  John  B.  Finch  — The  Sons  of 
Temperance;  the  Oldest  Secret  Temperance  Society",  Organ- 
ized 1842;  Gen.  Sam.  Cary:  “Seal  up  the  Fountain  of 


CONTENTS. 


XIX 


Death”;  Growth  in  Southern  States;  Eugene  H.  Clapp,  “Re- 
sponsibility of  the  Individual  for  Inebriety”  — Templars  of 
Honor  and  Temperance — Citizens’  Law  and  Order  League  of 
the  United  States ; the  Object  to  Enforce  Existing  Laws ; 
Charles  C.  Bonney,  President;  Platform  of  Convention,  1S85 

— Royal  Templars  of  Temperance  — Cadets  of  Temperance  — 
United  Temperance  Association  — United  Kingdom  Alliance 

— British  Temperance  League  — Scottish  Temperance  League 

— Irish  Temperance  League  — Political  Parties  and  the  Re- 

form — Through  Parties  or  Above  Parties,  the  People  Should 
Extirpate  the  Evil  from  the  Land 486 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THE  WOMAN’S  CHRISTIAN  TEMPERANCE  UNION. 

The  W.  C.  T.  U.  both  a Religious  and  Secular  Organization  — Ex- 
hortation, Enlightenment,  Administration,  Charity  — It  is 
Woman  Organized  — Ten  Thousand  Local  Unions  — National 
W.  C.  T.  U. — The  Woman’s  Crusade  — Dr.  Dio  Lewis  — 
History  of  the  Crusade,  by  Sarah  K.  Bolton  — The  Story  of 
the  Crusade  — Graphic  Incidents  — The  Woman’s  Crusade 
becomes  the  Woman’s  Christian  Temperance  Union  — The 
•Chautauqua  Meeting  — Mrs.  Annie  Wittenmyer,  President  — 
Cincinnati  First  Annual  Meeting,  1875  — Minneapolis  Annual 
Meeting,  1886  — Thirty  or  Forty  Departments  of  their  Tem- 
perance Activity  — Miss  Frances  E.  Willard  President  since 
1879  — Department  of  Organization  — Preventive  Department 
— Educational  Department;  Mrs.  Mary  Hunt  — Social  De- 
partment— Legal  Department  — The  World’s  W.  C.  T.  U., 

John  Bright’s  Sister  President  — Organizers  and  Superintend- 
ents — The  Union  Signal  — Song  as  a Power  in  the  Work  ; 

Mi's.  Elizabeth  Thompson,  Miss  Anna  Gordon  — A Few 
Names  of  Leaders 502 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

WHAT  SHALL  WE  DO  NEXT? 

Since  Waterloo  no  Year  in  which  Rum  has  not  been  the  Great 
Destroyer — Governor  St.  John’s  Speech  at  Worcester  — The 
New  Century  of  Temperance  Reform  — A Look  Backward 
on  the  Past  — Means  of  the  Past  Successes  — Helps  and  Hin- 
drances — One  Hundred  Years  have  Wrought  Conviction  — 
The  Removal  of  the  Evil  is  now  the  Problem  — The  Ques- 


XX 


CONTEXTS. 


tion  Everywhere,  North  and  Sooth,  East  and  West — The 
American  People  must  Act  — What  to  do  Next?  — Washing- 
tonian Moral  Suasion  not  Sufficient  — Constitutional  Amend- 
ment— Not  of  what  Party,  but  will  the  Member  of  Congress 
Vote  Prohibitory  Amendment?  — In  1890  Submit  the  Amend- 
ment to  the  People  — No  more  Mistakes — Unanimity  and 
Efficiency  — Caucuses,  Primaries  and  Nominating  Conventions 
— National  Prohibition  our  Watchword  — Then,  America  the 
Temperance  Leader  and  Redeemer  of  the  Nations 52ff 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


MAP  AND  DIAGRAMS. 

Page 


■Colored  Map  of  New  York  City  from  the  Battery  to  Central  Park, 

showing  the  Location  of  all  Drinking-Places 

Diagram  showing  the  Comparative  Length  of  Life  of  Emploj-ees 

of  the  Brewing  Trade  with  other  crafts 105 

Diagram  showing  the  Longevity  of  Sons  of  Temperance  compared 

with  the  Members  of  Non- Abstaining  Organizations  ....  106 

Diagram  showing  the  Relative  Cost  of  Drink  and  of  the  Necessities 

of  Life  in  the  United  States 232 

Diagram  showing  the  Expenditures  for  Drink  compared  with  the 

Amount  paid  for  Wages,  etc 237 


COLORED  PLATES. 


The  Cancerous  Stomach 54 

The  Kidneys  — Healthy  State  — Diseased  from  Intemperance  . . 63 

The  Liver  in  various  conditions  — Health}'  Section  — Nutmeg  De- 
generation — Cheesy  and  Cancerous  Degeneration  — Cancer- 
ous Tubercles 72 

Diagram  of  the  Stomach  in  various  conditions  — Healthful  — Mod- 
erate Drinking  — Drunkard’s  — Ulcerous  — After  a long  de- 
bauch — Death  by  Delirium  Tremens 81 


FULL-PAGE  PORTRAITS. 


The  Author Frontispiece 

Dr.  William  Hargreaves 9 

Author  of  “ Alcohol  and  Science.” 

Hon.  William  Windom 18 

Ex-Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

Canon  Wilberforce 27 

Hon.  A.  H.  Colquitt 36 

United  States  Senator  from  Georgia. 

Dr.  Daniel  Dorchester 45 

Author  of  “The  Liquor  Problem.” 

Dr.  N.  S.  Davis 90 

xxi 


XXII 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Dr.  I.  K.  Funic 99 

Editor  of  The  Voice. 

J.  N.  Stearns ...  108 

Publishing  Agent  of  the  National  Temperance  Society. 

Rev.  George  C.  Haddock 118 

The  Iowa  Martyr. 

Roderick  Diiu  Gambrell 127 

The  Mississippi  Martyr. 

Hon.  Albert  Griffin 136 

Chairman  Anti-Saloon  Republican  National  Committee. 

Rev.  Joseph  Cook 146 

Dr.  T.  De  Witt  Talmage 154 

Hon.  George  W.  Rain 163 

Benjamin  R.  Jewell 172 

Secretary  Massachusetts  Temperance  Society. 

Henry  II.  Faxon 181 

“Of  Quincy.” 

Miss  Anna  Gordon 190 

Associated  with  Miss  Willard. 

A.  M.  Powell 199 

Editor  of  National  Temperance  Advocate. 

Mrs.  Dr.  John  P.  Newman 210 

Washington,  D.C. 

Mrs.  Frances  J.  Barnes 220 

Superintendent  of  Young  Women's  Work,  W.  C.  T.  U. 

Mrs.  N.  H.  Knox 229 

President  of  the  W.  C.  T.  U.  of  New  Hampshire. 

Mrs.  Mary  A.  Livermore 241 

Mrs.  Armenia  S.  White 250 

Mrs.  Hannah  Whitall  Smith 259 

American  Secretary  of  the  World's  W.  C.  T.  U. 

Mrs.  Mary  Allen  West 268 

Editor  of  The  Union  Signal. 

Mrs.  Mary  Clement  Leavitt 276 

World’s  Missionary  of  W.  C.  T.  U. 

Mrs.  Mary  T.  Lathrop 2S6 

President  of  the  W.  C.  T.  U.  of  Michigan. 

Mrs.  William  Sibley 293 

President  W.  C.  T.  U.  of  Georgia. 

Mrs.  M.  II.  Hunt " 303 

National  Superintendent  Scientific  Instruction  in  Schools  and  Colleges. 

Mrs.  Judge  E.  T.  Merrick 310 

President  W.  C.  T.  U.  of  Louisiana. 

Mrs.  Sat.lie  F.  Chapin 320 

National  Supt.  of  the  Southern  Work  of  the  W.  C.  T.  U. 

Mrs.  Matilda  B.  Carse 328 

President  Woman’s  Temperance  Pub.  Association  of  Chicago. 

Mrs.  L.  M.  N.  Stevens 339 

President  of  the  W.  C.  T.  U.  of  Maine. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS.  xxiil 

Miss  Julia  Coleman 348 

National  Superintendent  of  Literature  of  W.  C.  T.  U. 

John  B.  Finch 357 

The  Late  Head  of  the  Good  Templars. 

Mrs.  Sarah  D.  La  Fetra 367 

President  W.  C.  T.  U.  of  District  of  Columbia. 

Mrs.  Mary  T.  Burt 379 

President  W.  C.  T.  U.  of  New  York. 

Mrs.  J.  Ellen  Foster 389 

President  of  the  W.  C.  T.  U.  of  Iowa. 

Mrs.  Zeralda  G.  Wallace 401 

National  Supt.  Franchise  Dept.  W.  C.  T.  U. 

Mrs.  Angie  P.  Newman 409 

Lincoln,  Neb. 

Eugene  II.  Clapp 425 

Head  of  the  Sons  of  Temperance. 

Gen.  Neal  Dow 437 

“ Father  of  the  Maine  Law.” 

Dr.  J.  M.  Buckley 445 

Editor  of  The  Christian  Advocate.  . 

George  A.  Bailey 455- 

Chief  of  Good  Templars  in  New  Hampshire. 

Mrs.  M.  A.  Bent 467' 

The  Bugler  of  the  W.  C.  T.  LT. 

IIis  Eminence  Cardinal  Gibbons 477 

Mrs.  Esther  T.  Housh 491 

Of  Vermont. 

Rev.  Theodore  L.  Flood,  D.D 499 

Editor  of  The  Chauiauquan. 

Mrs.  E.  J.  Thompson . 505’ 

Mother  of  the  Crusade. 

Miss  Frances  E.  Willard 511 

President  National  W.  C.  T.  U. 

Mrs.  Mary  A.  Wood  bridge 517 

Recording  Secretary  of  National  W.  C.  T.  U. 

Mrs.  C.  B.  Buell . 521 

Corresponding  Secretary  National  W.  C.  T.  U. 

Miss  Esther  Pugh 523 ; 

Treasurer  National  W.  C.  T.  U. 

Mrs.  Clara  Hoffman .....  528- 

President  of  the  W.  C.  T.  U.  of  Missouri. 

“Mother  Stewart” 533 

“ Of  the  Crusade.” 

Mrs.  J.  K.  Barney  537' 

Of  Rhode  Island. 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


CHAPTER  I 


A BRIEF  STUDY  OF  ALCOHOL. 


Alcohol  as  a Superstition — Its  Place  among  the  Gods  and  the  Devils  of 
Imagination — The  Doubtful  Origin  of  Wine  and  Ancient  Traditions 
Concerning  It — Discovery  of  Distillation  in  the  Twelfth  Century— How 
Webster  and  Worcester  Define  Alcohol — Dr.  Richardson’s  Statement  of 
its  Chemical  Properties— The  Nature  of  Alcohol  and  its  Relation  to  the 
Elements  of  our  own  Organism — The  Foods  that  Nourish  the  Body 
and  the  Food  Properties  of  Alcohol  Compared — The  Process  of  Fer- 
mentation—The  Process  of  Distillation— Name  and  Strength  of  Various 
Alcoholic  Preparations— Alcohol  the  Product  of  Man’s  Ingenuity  and 
not  of  Nature. 

HERE  is  no  tiling:  of  his  own  manufacture  which  has 

O 


such  power  over  the  body  and  soul  of  man  as  the  mys- 


terious substance  to  which  has  been  given  the  name — alcohol. 

Indeed,  so  subtile  and  canny  are  its  methods  of  asserting  its 
influence,  so  commanding  is  its  control  over  the  spiritual  as 
well  as  the  physical  structure,  and  so  direct  do  its  relations  ap- 
pear to  be  with  the  eternal  essence,  as  well  as  with  the  material 
parts  of  human  nature,  that  from  time  immemorial  this  strange 
drug  has  maintained  a personified  existence  in  the  imagina- 
tions of  men. 

From  whatever  source,  and  by  whatever  process  derived, 
and  by  whatever  name  the  preparation  containing  it  has  been 
known,  ever  since  fermentation  evolved  the  substance  which 
has  been  the  one  common  principle  of  intoxicating  beverages, 
in  all  ages  and  among  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth,  even  to 
our  own  times,  superstition  has  placed  it  among  her  gods  and 
her  devils  ; poetry  has  celebrated  its  qualities  with  her  choicest 
numbers  ; religion  has  appropriated  its  powers  to  her  sacred 


(1) 


/ 


2 THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 

rites  ; war  and  peace,  joy  and  sorrow,  all  ranks  and  conditions 
of  men,  in  all  the  events  of  life,  including  its  origin  and  its 
catastrophe,  have  associated  with  themselves  the  fascinations 
of  alcohol. 

The  discovery  of  vinous  fermentation,  which  is  supposed 
to  be  the  earliest  manifestation  of  this  spirit  in  the  economy 
of  human  life,  is  lost  among  the  impenetrable  clouds  that 
forever  settle  over  prehistoric  times  ; but  it  must  have  been 
considered  a wondrous  event,  which,  no  doubt,  was  carried 
from  the  place  of  its  origin  to  surrounding  tribes  and  nations 
as  a new  art  and  marvelous  instrumentality. 

We  are  told  that  when  first  civilization  developed  society 
into  nations,  and  these  new  organizations  concentrated  their 
aggressive  powers  in  the  form  of  armies  and  navies  to  place 
the  yoke  of  power  upon  the  neck  of  savage  tribes,  or  sought 
by  peaceful  commerce  to  stimulate  and  appropriate  the  pro- 
ductions of  nature,  and  of  savage  or  barbarous  men  in  other 
regions  of  the  earth,  "the  wine  god,  the  wine  cup  and  wine” 
were  everywhere  unknown.  The  ai’t  of  its  manufacture  spread 
from  some  common  center  by  the  agency  of  commerce  and  war. 
The  Egyptians,  the  Greeks,  the  Homans,  all  claim  that  wine, 
the  earliest  known  beverage  of  intoxication,  was  the  invention 
of  one  of  their  own  particular  line  of  gods. 

The  discovery,  as  it  spread  from  tribe  to  tribe  and  land  to 
land,  impressed  itself  as  a landmark  upon  universal  mythology. 
It  must  have  produced  an  effect  similar  to  the  discovery  of 
artificial  fire.  If  Prometheus  brought  the  one  from  heaven, 
Bacchus,  who  was  the  god  of  intoxication,  and  held  full  rank 
with  the  celestial  representatives  of  love  and  war,  must  have 
brought  his  withering  flame  from  the  hottest  regions  of  Tar- 
tarus. 

Alcoholic  drinks  are  the  work  of  man.  They  are  a part 
of  the  history  of  the  human  race.  When  in  the  twelfth 
century  the  discovery  of  distillation  greatly  increased  their 
potency,  and  a few  centuries  later  the  process  was  appro- 
priated by  all  civilized  nations,  intoxicating  beverages  as- 
sumed an  importance  and  asserted  a destructive  power  in 
the  affairs  of  mankind,  which  has  grown  with  the  progress 
of  civilization  and  spread  with  enlightenment,  as  the  night 
follows  the  da}g  until  now  they  fill  the  world,  and  no  problem 


DEFINITIONS  OF  ALCOHOL. 


3 


of  superior  consequence  or  difficulty  confronts  the  Christian, 
the  patriot,  or  the  lover  of  mankind,  than  how  to  remove  them 
from  the  face  of  the  earth.  W hat  ever  may  be  the  differences 
among  men  as  to  the  necessity,  the  usefulness  or  at  least  the 
innocence  of  alcohol  in  the  economy  of  life,  it  is  conceded  by 
all  that  great  evils  arise  from  its  abuse,  and  that  its  record  on 
the  whole  is  one  of  calamity — some  sa}7  with  mitigation,  others 
without. 

It  is  now  as  active  as  ever,  and  its  use  is  increasing  with 
great  rapidity.  Owing  to  the  rapid  colonization  of  the  world 
by  civilized  and  commercial  nations  which  are  its  chief  pro- 
ducers and  hitherto  have  been  its  principal  consumers,  it  can 
be  but  a few  years  before  every  man,  woman  and  child  of  the 
whole  fifteen  hundred  millions  of  the  race,  at  least  four-fifths 
of  whom  are  as  defenseless  as  little  children  against  its  Circean 
power,  w7ill  find  the  bottles  of  Christendom  at  their  lips. 

If  cursed  is  he  who  putteth  the  cup  of  intoxication  *to  his 
neighbor’s  lip,  then  it  becomes  necessary  for  those  engaged  in 
the  foul  work  to  examine  the  nature  of  their  occupation  for 
their  own  good.  I propose  in  this  book  to  investigate  the  sub- 
ject as  fairly  and  thoroughly  as  possible  in  the  brief  time  and 
with  the  facilities  at  my  command.  I have  no  desire  to  exag- 
gerate or  intensify.  The  subject  is  broad,  and  high,  and  deep. 
But  it  is  upon  the  American  people  and  compels  the  attention 
of  the  whole  world.  It  cannot  be  evaded.  Postponement 
even  is  no  longer  possible,  and,  if  it  were,  would  but  aggravate 
existing  evils  and  multiply  the  difficulty  of  their  removal. 
The  operation  must  be  performed. 

It  is  important  in  the  first  place  to  obtain  a dear  idea  of 
the  thing  itself  ’,  and  of  its  action  upon  the  body  and  soul. 

Webster  defines  Alcohol  as  follows  : 

“Pure  or  highly  rectified  spirit,  extracted  by  simple  distillation 
from  various  vegetable  juices  and  infusions  of  a saccharine  nature 
which  have  undergone  vinous  fermentation  ; the  spirituous  or  in- 
toxicating element  of  fermented  liquors.” 

Worcester  thus  : 

“ Alcohol . — The  intoxicating  principle  of  all  spirituous  liquors; 
highly  rectified  or  pure  spirit  obtained  by  distillation  of  the  fer- 
mented solution  or  infusion  of  any  substance  containing  sugar  5 


4 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


and  thus  capable  of  undergoing  vinous  fermentation  ; the  chemical 
name  of  ardent  spirit ; spirits  of  vine  so  called  from  having  been 
first  obtained  by  the  distillation  of  vine.” 

Dunglison’s  Medical  Lexicon  thus  : 

“ Alcohol . — An  Arabic  vord  formerly  used  for  an  impalpable 
powder  and  signifying  ‘ very  subtile,  much  divided.’  At  the  present 

day  it  is  applied  to  highly  rectified  spirit  of  vine  ; In  the 

Ph.  U.  S.  (Pharmacopoeia  United  States)  ‘Alcohol  is  rectified 
spirit  of  the  specific  gravity  0.835.’  ‘ Alcohol  is  an  inflammable 

liquor,  lighter  than  vater,  of  a varm,  acrid  taste,  colorless,  trans- 
parent, and  of  a pungent,  aromatic  smell.  It  is  the  product  of 
the  distillation  of  vinous  liquors  ; is  miscible  (mixable)  with  water 
in  all  proportions  and  is  the  direct  solvent  of  resins,  balsams,  etc. 
Various  other  vegetable  principles  are  soluble  in  it  and  hence  it  is 
used  in  different  states  of  concentration  in  the  preparation  of  elix- 
irs, tinctures,  essences,”  etc.  " 

The  chemist  has  sought  for  the  elusive  essence  of  the  article 
of  commerce  known  as  alcohol  for  centuries,  and  only  in  very 
recent  times  has  he  succeeded  in  stating  it  in  the  terms  of  his 
science. 

Dr.  Benj.  W.  Richardson,  M.  A.,  M.  D.,  F.  R.  S.,  proba- 
bly the  highest  European  authority  vho  has  ever  lived,  on  this 
subject,  after  reviewing  the  researches  of  the  past,  says  in  his 
Second  Cantor  Lecture,  p.  42,  "If,  passing  over  the  interven- 
ing hundred  years,  you  asked  the  chemist  of  to-day,  'TChat  is 
alcohol  ?’  he  would  tell  you  that  it  was  an  organic  radical  called 
ethyl,  combined  with  the  elements  of  water.  He  would  ex- 
plain that  water  was  no  longer  considered  to  be  an  element, 
but  to  be  composed  of  two  elements  called  hydrogen  and  oxy- 
gen, two  equivalents  of  hydrogen  being  combined  in  it  with 
one  equivalent  of  oxj^gen.  He  would  inform  you  that  the 
radical  he  had  called  ethyl  was  a compound  of  carbon  and 
hydrogen,  and  he  would  add  that  this  radical  in  alcohol  took 
the  place  of  one  of  the  equivalents  of  hydrogen  of  water. 

He  thereupon  would  give  3rou  symbols  for  water  and  alcohol, 
but  symbols  of  a very  different  kind  to  those  presented  by  his 
learned  predecessor.  He  would  express  the  names  of  the  ele- 
ments composing  the  water  and  spirit  by  the  first  letters  of 
their  names,  and  add  their  equivalents  or  parts  bv  figures 
attached  to  the  letters.  Thus  his  svmbols  for  water  would 


THE  SCIENTIST'S  ANALYSIS  OF  ALCOHOL. 


5 


be  H2  O;  for  the  radical  ethyl,  C2  H 5 ; and  for  alcohol  (C2 
H5)  HO  or  C2  H6  O. 

Then  we  are  to  understand  that  alcohol  is  not  ethyl  any 
more  than  alcohol  is  water,  but  a combination  of  the  two,  and 
that  both  ethyl  and  water  are  themselves  compound  substances. 

When  the  ethyl  and  the  water  combine  one  of  the  parts  of 
hydrogen  disappears  ; for  whereas  the  ethyl  has  live  parts, 
hydrogen  and  the  water  two,  mathematically  there  should  be 
seven,  and  actually  there  are  but  six.  What  becomes  of  it  the 
chemical  deponent  saith  not,  therefore  we  are  at  liberty  to 
infer  that  it  is  the  missing  link  which  connects  the  whole 
thing  with  the  devil. 

I have  examined  the  recent  great  work  of  Dr.  William  Har- 
greaves, published  last  year,  "Alcohol  and  Science,”  and  find 
these  high  authorities  agreeing ; and  so  we  can  assume  that 
we  know  common  alcohol  when  we  see  it. 

It  is  ethylic  alcohol  which  this  book  is  about ; the  alcohol 
which  has  laughed  at  the  puny  ravages  of  war,  pestilence  and 
famine  throughout  the  cycles  of  authentic  history. 

There  are  live  others  in  the  family,  methylic,  propylic 
butylic,  amylic,  and  caproylic  ; but  while  these  are  of  one  blood 
with  the  ethylic  and  have  the  same  innate  capacity  for  mis- 
chief, they  are  less  demonstrative  in  human  affairs,  and  the  plan 
of  this  book  does  not  require  their  description.  Some  of  them 
are  very  important  and  dangerous  when  used  either  by  them- 
selves or  when  mixed  with  the  alcohol  in  common  use,  and  the 
reader  interested  in  their  further  study  will  do  well  to  consult 
the  above  authorities  and  other  recent  writers,  for  many  of  the 
accepted  ideas  even  of  professional  men  are  disproved  by  the 
late  investigators. 

We  will,  however,  search  for  the  nature  of  alcohol,  and  for 
its  relation  to  the  elements  of  our  own  organism  a little 
further. 

All  vegetable  forms  receive  their  nourishment  from  the 
atmosphere;  all  animals  feed  either  upon  vegetables  or  upon 
other  animals  which  have  been  nourished  bv  vegetables,  so 
that  in  the  end  animal  as  well  as  vegetable  life  feeds  largely 
if  not  entirely  upon  the  air. 

Although  the  pure  air,  which  is  most  favorable  to  animal 
life  when  appropriated  through  the  lungs,  is  composed  almost 


6 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


wholly  of  four  parts  of  nitrogen  and  one  of  oxygen,  with  a 
slight  admixture  of  carbonic  acid,  yet  the  atmosphere  which 
surrounds  the  world  contains  four  elements,  all  in  the  gaseous 
state.  These  are  easily  reducible  to  solid,  and  again  to  the 
gaseous  form  by  the  operations  of  natural  law.  These  elements 
of  the  atmosphere  and,  when  vitalized  by  the  life  principle,  of 
organic  existence  are  oxygen,  hydrogen,  carbon  and  nitrogen. 
From  these  plant  life  is  supported  "and  they  compose  almost 
the  entire  vegetable  kingdom.” 

Few  and  simple  as  are  these  original  elements,  yet  from 
them  nature  has  constructed  a great  variety  of  foods  for  the 
sustenance  of  organic  life. 

Foods  are  divided  into  the  "nitrogenized”  and  the  "non- 
nitrogenized.” 

The  latter  again  into  three  groups,  all  composed  of  the  same 
original  substances,  carbon,  hydrogen,  oxygen  and  nitrogen, 
but  combined  in  varying  proportions  of  such  of  them  as  may 
enter  into  the  composition  of  each  particular  food. 

1.  Sugar  and  saccharine  substances. 

2.  Acids  or  sour  substances. 

3.  Fats  and  oils. 

Non-nitrogen ized  foods  are  supposedto  be  specially  designed 
for  the  development  of  heat,  without  which  the  oi’ganic  proc- 
esses cannot  be  carried  on  ; and  it  is  a fact  that  they  are  found 
to  exist  in  proportions  corresponding  to  this  requirement  of 
life  ; the  fats  and  oils  predominate  in  the  cold  regions — the 
acids  in  the  tropical  regions,  while  all  are  commingled  in  more 
nearly  equal  parts  between  the  two.  Heat  is  developed  from 
the  carbon  and  hydrogen  contained  in  them,  and  these  elements 
are  found  to  prevail  in  this  class  of  food,  according  to  the 
necessity  for  combustion,  resulting  from  climatic  conditions. 

"Thus  animal  oil  and  blubber  are  furnished  for  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  higher  latitudes  of  the  polar  regions  ; the  fruits  and 
acids  and  starch  for  those  within  the  tropics ; while  they  are 
varied  and  blended  between  the  two  extremes  of  heat  and  cold. 
That  thus  the  different  necessities  of  the  whole  animal  king- 
dom are  provided  for,”  is  the  testimony  of  Dr.  Hargreaves 
in  “ Alcohol  and  Science.” 

The  nitrogenized  foods  "are  formed  by  the  addition  of 
nitrogen  to  the  elements  comprising  the  first  class.” 


ALCOHOL  THE  PRODUCT  OF  DECAY. 


7 


These  aliments  are  vegetable  albumen,  vegetable  fibrin  and 
vegetable  casein,  and  from  them,  in  use  with  the  sugars,  acids 
and  fats  and  oils,  the  animal  economy  is  built  up  and  kept  in 
action. 

The  changes  produced  by  chemical  affinity  when  these  various 
substances  of  the  first  class  are  brought  into  certain  relations 
to  the  system  constitute  force  of  which  heat  is  the  manifesta- 
tion, and  motion  the  result ; and,  by  the  action  of  both  affinity 
and  force  or  motion,  the  nourishment  of  the  body  becomes 
possible  and  is  prolonged. 

Alimentary  substances  become  exceedingly  complicated  in 
their  numerous  forms  and  combinations,  and  hence  from  the 
action  of  chemical  laws  liable  to  be  easily  dissolved  by  new  at- 
tractions, and  by  the  same  laws  reconstructed  in  new  and  it 
may  be  non-vitalized  forms. 

Alcohol  is  not  produced  or  obtained  by  any  process  which 
forms  foods,  or  which  nourishes  animal  or  vegetable  life.  It 
is  developed  only  by  the  putrefaction  and  decay  of  organic 
forms. 

Nitrogenized  aliments  are  said  to  be  the  most  transient 
and  changeable  of  all  organized  matter.  Dr.  Hargreaves 

C;  O O 

further  says  : 

"At  the  common  temperature,  under  the  influence  of  moist- 
ure and  oxygen,  their  decomposition  or  putrefaction  rapidly 
takes  place.  Milk,  meat,  dough,  etc.,  containing  large  quan- 
tities of  nitrogenous  matter,  when  placed  in  a moist  condition, 
rapidly  become  putrid.  The  nitrogenized  substances  not  only 
become  rapidly  putrid  themselves  but  communicate  putrefac- 
tion to  the  non-nitrogenized.  Pure  starch,  sugar,  etc.,  are 
very  enduring,  and  are  able  to  resist  putrefaction  for  a long 
time  ; but  when  brought  into  contact  with  nitrogenized  sub- 
stances in  the  process  of  decay,  they  are  at  once  affected,  and 
go  on  to  the  same  condition.”  "The  substances,”  says  Liebig, 
"which  constitute  the  principal  mass  of  every  vegetable,  are 
compounds  of  carbon,  with  oxygen  and  hydrogen  in  the  proper 
relative  proportion  for  forming  ivater.  For  example,  a rotten 
peach  or  apple  placed  in  contact  with  one  that  is  sound  soon 
causes  it  to  rot  and  its  atoms  return  to  their  original  condi- 
tion or  elements  : carbonic  acid  and  water.” 

Having  ascertained  what  alcohol  is  as  developed  and  defined 


8 


the  temperance  movement. 


by  the  highest  and  latest  scientific  investigation  and  authority 
(and  I am  aware  of  no  controversy  over  their  conclusions)  and 
briefly  explained  the  elementary  structure  and  nourishment  of 
animal  and  vegetable  life  as  a necessary  preliminary,  we  can 
now  proceed  to  the  actual  process  by  which  the  alcohol  with 
which  we  have  to  deal,  the  alcohol  of  commerce,  is  obtained, 
and  to  describe  it  in  the  various  concrete  forms,  and  under  the 
numerous  names  and  combinations  with  other  substances  which 
it  assumes  when  it  becomes  a factor  in  human  life. 

The  process  by  which  alcohol  is  evolved  is  called  fermenta- 
tion, which  is  rotting,  or  putrefaction,  and  it  is  obtainable  in 
no  other  known  way. 

Fermentation  is  defined  "as  the  term  applied  to  the  change 
which  occurs  in  one  organic  substance  when  brought  into  con- 
tact  with  and  influenced  by  another  in  a state  of  decay  or 
putrefaction.” 

The  non-nitrogenous  substances,  sugar,  starch,  etc.,  have  no 
power  of  themselves  to  decay  ; but  tire  nitrogenous  elements, 
albumen,  fibrin,  casein,  gluten,  and  tissues,  the  mucous,  etc., 
composed  of  them,  when  subjected  to  moderate  heat  and  to 
moisture,  putrefy,  and  those  which  do  so  spontaneously  are 
called  ferments.  While  decaying  or  fermenting  these  sub- 
stances communicate  their  own  condition  to  other  bodies  capa- 
ble of  decay  or  of  separation  into  new  combinations  ; and  this 
power  remains  until  decomposition  has  so  far  proceeded  that 
putrescence  is  over. 

Sugar  is  a principal  ingredient  of  the  grape,  and  vinous  fer- 
mentation, by  which  alcohol  is  chief!}'  produced,  is  occasioned 
by  the  action  "of  a peculiar  ferment  called  yeast,  upon  a sac- 
charine liquid.”  It  is  believed  that  in  all  vinous  fermentation 
— perhaps  in  all  fermentation — living  organisms,  animal  or  veg- 
etable, are  present,  and  the  microscope,  at  least  in  the  case  of 
yeast,  reveals  the  organized  and  vitalized  cells  or  globules  of 
which  it  is  made. 

Both  Berzelius  and  Liebig,  after  strenuously  denying  this 
theory,  were  finally  convinced  of  its  truth  by  microscopical 
tests. 

Fermentation  proceeds  at  a temperature  of  from  60  to  80 
degrees,  best  at  about  70  degrees  Fahrenheit,  and  "accord- 
ing to  every  theory  is  the  process  by  which  the  food  of  man  is 


Dr.  William  Ha /'greaves. 

Author  of  “ Alcohol  and  Science 


THE  INGREDIENTS  OF  ALCOHOL. 


9 


destroyed  and  alcohol  produced.”  Sugar  is  the  only  constitu- 
ent element  from  which  alcohol  can  be  produced.  M.  M.  Du- 
plain  says  : "Among  the  proximate  principles  of  organic 
substances,  sugar  alone  gives  occasion  to  vinous  fermentation 
from  which  alcohol  is  derived,”  and  the  great  chemist,  A.  F. 
Fourerojg  in  "Philosophy  of  Chemistry,”  declares  that " the 
fermentation  of  alcohol  takes  place  at  the  expense  of  the 
destruction  of  a vegetable  principle.” 

Dr.  Hargreaves  adds,  p.  33  of  his  work  already  cited, 
"The  juices  of  all  vegetables,  and  other  liquids  containing  sugar, 
are  capable  of  alcoholic  or  vinous  fermentation  when  sufficient 
albuminous  matter  is  present  to  produce  and  sustain  the  proc- 
ess, which  is  usually  the  case  when  the  juice  of  apples,  pears, 
peaches,  currants,  grapes,  etc.,  are  employed  as  sources  of 
alcohol;”  .....  and  of  the  " several  kinds  of  sugar,  grape 
sugar  alone  is  capable  of  being  converted  into  alcohol ; the 
others  must  be  converted  into  grape  sugar  before  they  are 
capable  of  the  transformation.”  It  appears  to  be  an  humble 
imitation  of  the  practice  of  the  quack,  who  so  treated  all  his 
patients  as  to  produce  " fits  ” because  that  was  the  only  disease 
he  knew  how  to  cure. 

"The  cereals  contain  little  sugar,  but  much  starch  which  is 
convertible  into  sugar.  This  is  accomplished  b}r  diastase,  a 
peculiar  ferment,  which  is  mingled  in  very  small  proportions 
with  the  malt.  Malt  is  barley  or  other  grain  in  which  the 
process  of  germination  has  been  artificially  produced  and  then 
arrested.” 

If  bruised  malt  is  mingled  with  ground  meal  or  any  other 
grain  and  water  at  the  requisite  temperature,  the  diastase  of 
the  malt  converts  the  additional  starch  into  sugar.  This  sweet 
liquid  contains  the  newly  formed  grape  sugar,  and  can  be 
changed  into  alcohol  by  fermentation. 

Fermented  liquors  can  be  obtained  from  the  juices  of  many 
fruits  and  vegetable  substances.  Wine  is  the  fermented  juice 
of  the  grape,  cider  of  the  apple  ; various  wines  are  made  from 
the  juices  of  different  fruits  and  named  accordingly,  as  from 
the  currant,  the  elderberry  and  the  like.  Ale  and  beer  made 
from  the  infusion  of  malt,  chiefly  of  barley,  but  sometimes 
from  other  grains,  are  the  principal  fermented  drinks  now  in 


10 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


use.  All  are  alcoholic  beverages,  aucl  the  alcohol  can  be  sep- 
arated from  them,  in  part  at  least,  by  distillation,  a process 
soon  to  be  described. 

The  alcohol  in  fermented  liquors  is  never  more  than  seven- 
teen per  cent.,  the  remainder  being  mostly  water  ; and  but  for 
the  discovery  of  a means  of  obtaining  it  in  more  concen- 
trated form  there  Avould  be  no  intoxicating  liquor  containing  a 
larger  proportion  of  alcohol. 

The  process  of  distillation  however,  has  enabled  the  maker  to 
load  any  of  the  fermented  liquors  with  a greater  proportion  of 
the  intoxicating  element,  so  that  now  many  of  them  are  nearly 
as  powerful  as  the  distilled  liquors  themselves. 

Until  the  twelfth  century  of  the  Christian  era  only  fermented 
drinks  in  which  by  the  laws  of  nature,  according  to  Dr.  Richard- 
son, no  larger  proportion  than  seventeen  per  cent,  could  be 
alcohol,  we  re  in  use  among  the  nations  of  Europe,  or  any  other 
portion  of  the  earth,  unless  to  a limited  extent  in  China. 

True,  that  history  abounds  with  cases  of  gross  individual 
and  national  indulgence,  as  in  that  of  Alexander,  and  of  the 
Babylonians  in  the  times  of  Belshazzar,  but  all  this  was  done 
with  an  article  of  comparatively  trilling  potency. 

In  the  twelfth  century  the  learning  of  the  world  had  lied  to 
the  protection  of  the  Arabians,  and  a physician  named  Albu- 
cassis  is  credited  with  the  discovery  of  the  process  of  separat- 
ing more  or  less  successfully  alcohol  from  the  innocuous  fluids 
with  which  it  had  until  then  been  associated.  Various  authori- 
ties however  are  to  the  effect  that  distillation  was  known  before 
the  dawn  of  authentic  history.  But  the  matter  is  not  important 

~to  US. 

The  specific  gravity  of  alcohol  is  792  as  compared  with 
water  1000 — about  four-fifths  the  weight  of  water.  Alcohol 
is  highly  inflammable,  and  its  atoms  vaporize  at  forty  degrees 
lower  temperature  than  water — which  boils  or  is  converted 
into  steam  at  212  degrees  F.  "When  a quantity  of  fermented 
liquor  is  confined  in  a vessel  and  subjected  to  a temperature  of 
172  degrees  the  particles  of  alcohol  expand,  are  converted 
into  gas,  and  rise  from  the  mass  with  which  they  have  been 
united. 

Taking  advantage  of  these  facts  the  distiller  confines  the 


NAME  AND  STRENGTH  OF  ALCOHOLIC  PREPARATIONS.  11 


fermented  liquor  in  a closed  vessel  before  the  application  of 
heat,  and  connects  the  space  in  the  top  of  the  vessel  with 
another  empty  chamber  by  means  of  a "worm”  or  hollow  tube. 
When  the  mass  is  heated  to  the  proper  temperature  the  alcohol 
leaves  the  water  in  the  form  of  vapor  and  seeks  the  other 
vessel  through  the  tube,  which,  being  surrounded  by  cold,  the 
vapor  is  condensed  and  finds  its  way  into  the  other  vessel  in 
the  form  of  a liquid,  from  which  a large  proportion  of  the  water 
has  disappeared.  After  a second  distillation  the  result  is 
called  spirits  of  wine,  and  after  the  third,  rectified  spirits  of 
wine.  Owing,  however,  to  the  strong  chemical  affinity  of 
alcohol  for  water,  there  will  yet  remain  from  ten  to  twenty 
per  cent,  of  water,  with  some  other  impurities,  one  of  which 
is  fusel  oil.  Fusel  oil  is  most  abundant  inspirits  from  Indian 
corn  and  potatoes. 

To  remove  the  remainder  of  the  water,  and  obtain  anlrydrous, 
absolute  alcohol,  requires  a substance  having  stronger  affinity 
for  water.  Lime  is  generally  used  for  this  purpose,  but  it  is 
for  various  reasons  difficult  to  procure  absolute  alcohol,  and 
the  commercial  article  varies  greatly  in  actual  strength. 

Brandy,  whisky,  rum  and  gin  are  usually  classed  by  them- 
selves as  distilled  or  ardent  spirits,  and  all  other  spirituous 
liquors  as  fermented.  Ardent  or  distilled  liquors  contain,  or 
should  contain,  as  the  result  of  distillation,  from  forty  per  cent, 
upwards  of  alcohol,  while  fermented,  according  to  Dr.  B.  W. 
Richardson,  can  contain  no  more  than  seventeen  per  cent,  by 
the  natural  process,  and  from  that  proportion  downward  even 
to  less  than  two  per  cent.,  as  in  small  beer. 

But  owing  to  the  manipulations  of  the  maker  and  vendor, 
with  colors,  drugs,  gums  and  various  ingredients  and  methods 
of  adulteration,  the  dilution  of  the  stronger  with  water  and 
the  fortification  of  the  weaker  with  spirits,  the  line  of  distinc- 
tion between  distilled  and  fermented  liquors  seems  to  be  well 
nigh  lost,  to  all  save  the  eye  of  faith  or  of  the  analytical 
chemist. 

The  following  tables  give  the  proportions  of  alcohol  in 
various  liquors  as  stated  by  Brande.  Bence  Jones  and  by  Prof. 
John  C.  Draper,  of  the  Medical  College,  New  York.* 


See  Hargreaves,  p.  37. 


12 


the  temperance  movement. 


alcoholic  Percentage.  Number  of  ounces  in 


By  Braude 

l>y  JJcnee  Jones 

Bv  Prof.  Draper  imperial  pt.of  20  ozs. 

Bourbon, 

Whisky, 

54.11 

29.  to  49 

Rum, 

53.6S 

72.0  to  77.1 

Brandy, 

53  39 

50.4  to  53.8 

22.  to  56 

10>.<  ounces. 

Holland  Gin, 

51.60 

49.4  to 

31. 

Raisin  Wine, 

25.12 

Maderia, 

24.17 

19.0  to  19.7 

4 ounces. 

Port, 

22.96 

20.7  to  23.2 

4 ounces. 

Sherry, 

19.17 

15.4  to  24.7 

4}  2 ounces. 

Claret, 

15.10 

9.1  to  11.1 

2 ounces. 

Burgundy, 

14.57 

10.1  to  13.2 

2 y*  ounces. 

Champagne, 

12  SO 

14.1  to  14.8 

3 ounces. 

Elderberry, 

8.79 

Cider, 

7.54 

o.4  to  t .o 

Perry, 

7.26 

Strong  Ale, 

0.20 

Brown  Stout, 

G.S0 

1 ounofts. 

Porter, 

4.20 

Small  Beer, 

1.2S 



jR  ounce. 

The  following  table  shows  the  percentage  of  alcohol  in 
most  European  alcoholic  beverages.* 


BEVERAGES. 

German  Beer, 

Cider, 

Ale  and  Porter, 

Very  strong  Ale, 

Moselle  and  Rhine  “Wines 

Claret,  

Champagne,  

Sherry,  

Port, 

Maueria,  

Marsala,  

Gin  (London),  

Geneva  spirit, 

Brandy,  

Whisky,  

Rum , 


PERCENTAGE  OF  ALCOHOL 


. from 

1.9 

to 

4.G2 

tt 

5.4 

It 

7.4 

LL 

5.4 

tt 

8.5 

LL 

10.5 

tt 

12.4 

LL 

7.5 

tt 

9.5 

LL 

s.o 

tt 

9.0 

LL 

11.5 

tt 

14.1 

LL 

15.4 

t; 

16.0 

k4 

10.0 

44 

20.7 

LL 

19.0 

tt 

19.S 

LL 

19.9 

4* 

20.0 

44 

31.73 

44 

20.0 

*4 

49.4 

tt 

20.0 

44 

50.4 

44 

53.6 

L L 

59.2 

tt 

59.4 

44 

72.7 

tt 

77.1 

The  alcohol  contained  in  these  liquors  is  not  chemically  com- 
bined with  the  rest  of  the  mass,  but  maintains  its  individuality 
for  action  according  to  its  true  nature  whenever  brought  in 
contact  with  the  new  surroundings  whether  in  the  human  organ- 
ism or  elsewhere. 

In  this  chapter  I have  endeavored  to  set  forth  the  origin  and 
actual  composition  of  the  article  known  as  alcohol  in  the  con- 
cerns of  common  life. 

It  is  a product  of  putrefaction  ; never  of  any  life-generating 
or  life-supporting  process. 


*Soe  Samuelson's  Iiistoiy  of  Drinks,”  page  ICO.  Also  cited  in  Dr, 
Dorchester's  Liquor  Problem,"  page  101. 


ALCOHOL  NO  PART  OP  NATURE. 


13 


Neither  plants  nor  animals  in  any  of  the  mysterious  proc- 
esses of  appropriation  or  assimilation  from  the  soil  or  the  air 
extract  or  use  it.  It  has  no  part  in  the  economy  of  life  save 
only  as  it  is  forced  there  by  the  art  or  the  unnatural  appetite 
of  man.  Nature  never  uses  it  in  any  of  her  wonderful,  God- 
invented  methods  of  production,  growth,  or  healing.  All  the 
presumptions  are  against  it  except  such  as  may  arise  from  the 
medicinal  use  which  morbid  and  diseased  conditions  of  the 
human  system,  and  its  place  among  the  agencies  of  art,  may 
justify,  and  in  some  cases  make  necessary. 

In  the  next  chapter  we  will  inquire  into  the  action  of  alco- 
hol upon  the  structure  of  the  body,  and  afterward  upon  the 
intellectual  and  moral  nature  of  man. 


14 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


CHAPTER  n. 

EFFECT  OF  ALCOHOL  UPON  THE  HUMAN  BODY  AND  SOUL. 

Liquor  as  an  Article  of  Commerce — Alcohol  in  the  Body — Importance 
of  Medical  Testimony — The  Development  of  Drunkenness  during  the 
Past  Three  Centuries — The  Experiments  of  Lallemand,  Perrin  and 
Duroy — A Terrier  Dog  under  the  Influence  of  Liquor — The  Latest 
Demonstrations  of  Dr.  Richardson — How  Alcohol  Travels  with  the 
Blood,  and  What  it  does  on  its  Travels — Experiments  of  Parkes  and 
Wallowicz  on  a Healthy  Man — How  his  Heart  was  Afiected  by  Alcohol 
— Effect  of  the  Social  Glass  at  a Dinner  Party. 

IT  is  matter  of  common  knowledge  that  rum,  gin,  brandy 
and  whisky,  ale,  beer,  cider,  wines,  all  in  great  variety 
and  with  divers  peculiarities  of  color,  taste  and  potency,  enter 
largely  as  commercial  articles  into  the  consumption  of  daily 
life,  especially7'  among  the  civilized  nations  of  the  world.  In 
another  part  of  this  work  I shall  endeavor  to  show  approxi- 
mately the  tremendous  proportions  and  effects  of  the  traffic 
in  alcohol  in  the  various  disguises  which  it  assumes  in  order  to 
catch  the  unwary,  or  to  hold  in  its  iron  captivity  the  already 
enslaved  consumer.  But  before  doing  this  it  seems  to  me 
more  logical  to  ascertain  from  observation,  experience,  and 
especially  from  scientific  and  professional  sources,  in  which 
from  the  nature  of  the  investigation,  must  be  the  most  de- 
cisive evidence,  the  effect  of  alcohol  administered  in  these 
numerous  forms  upon  our  physical,  mental,  and  moral  being. 
If  that  influence  be  beneficial,  it  will  materially  change  the 
conclusions  to  "which  we  shall  arrive  from  the  vastness  of  the 
traffic,  and  will  enable  us  to  withdraw  much  severe  com- 
ment made  by  "temperance  fanatics,”  including  myself  as 
one  of  the  chief  of  sinners,  so  far  at  least  as  hostile  intent  has 
been  concerned  ; and  the  remaining  pages  of  this  work  shall  be 
devoted  to  the  repair  of  past  injury,  real  or  attempted,  and  to 
encomiums  for  the  blessings  which  shall  have  been  demon- 
strated to  flow  from  the  activities  of  this  colossal  trade. 

Those  who  are  engaged  in  producing  beverages  which  di- 


A FAIR  INQUIRY. 


15 


rectly  affect  the  body  and  soul,  whose  labor,  capital  and 
profits  all  depend  upon  a consumption  which  takes  direct  hold 
of  the  immortal  as  well  as  the  mortal  nature  of  themselves  and 
of  their  fellow-men  all  made  in  the  image  of  God  must  be  will- 
ing to  abide  the  test  of  a candid  examination  of  this  subject. 

If  it  be  found  that  alcohol  used  as  a beverage  is  good  for 
man,  then  the  libels  and  slanders  of  the  past  must  be  with- 
drawn, and  shall  be  so  far  as  I am  concerned  ; the  great  moral 
agencies  of  Christendom  will  hereafter  lend  their  support 
through  the  press,  the  pulpit  and  platform  ; hostile  legislation 
will  be  repealed  ; the  highest  and  holiest  energies  of  the  race, 
hitherto  active  for  the  destruction  of  the  trade,  will  become 
hereafter  its  strongest  allies,  and  all  men  will  unite  to  do 
honor  to  these  long-derided  and  execrated  benefactors  of  the 
race. 

If  the  result  of  our  examination  leaves  the  truth  in  doubt, 
then,  while  charity  must  hereafter  suffer  long  and  be  kind, 
while  we  must  upbraid  no  more,  still,  as  alcohol  is  an  inno- 
vator, as  great,  real  injury  is  apparent  and  still  greater  hurt 
is  charged  and  not  disproved,  the  affirmative  of  the  issue  is 
upon  alcohol ; and  if  its  advocates  do  not  prove  it  to  be  good, 
the  ordinary  presumption  against  an  intruder  should  prevail, 
and  the  traffic  should  be  restrained  within  the  limits  until  its 
effects  are  shown  to  be  not  evil. 

If  the  result  of  our  examination  should  be  a demonstration 
beyond  rational  doubt  that  alcohol  is  in  its  nature  hurtful  in 
the  healthy  human  system,  then  it  should  not  be  necessary  to 
go  further  and  portray  the  gigantic  dimensions  of  the  alleged 
"crime  of  crimes,”  but  upon  this  showing  alone  the  waste  of 
useful  materials  should  be  arrested  ; the  perversion  of  produc- 
tive labor  and  capital  to  pernicious  uses  should  cease,  and 
the  forces  which  now  direct,  as  many  believe  at  least,  and  as 
Mr.  Bourne  has  proved,  one-tenth  of  all  human  capacity  night 
and  day,  through  war  and  peace,  remorselessly,  and  awfully, 
to  the  destruction  of  the  race,  should  be  turned  into  other 
fields  of  achievement  whereon  God  has  pronounced  no  curse.* 

Alcohol  reaches  the  human  being  through  the  organs  of  the 
body — that  body  so  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made,  the  high- 

♦Bourne,  on  the  National  Expenditure  on  Alcohol.  Statistical  Journal 
XLV.,  1SS2,  p.  312. 


L-- 


16  the  tempeeance  movement. 

est  and  most  mysterious  visible  manifestation  of  the  wisdom 
and  power  of  the  Creator.  No  subject  of  study  ever  has  been 
or  can  be  of  such  importance  or  of  such  absorbing  interest  to 
us  as  this  body,  save  alone  the  impenetrable  spirit  which 
dwells  within  it,  and  which,  from  its  invisible  but  glorious 
throne,  with  brain  and  hand  discovering,  seizing  and  wielding 
all  the  forces  of  nature,  reigns  over  this  lower  world,  while 
with  the  upturned  e3Te  of  faith  and  conscious  kinship,  it 
touches,  as  of  right  with  spirit  hand  the  very  scepter  of  its 
Father  and  its  God.  This  wonderful  and  sacred  structure, 
the  temple  of  the  body,  has  been  in  all  ages  the  held  of  pro- 
found exploration  to  the  Avisest  and  best  men  of  the  race.  It 
matters  not  that  ignorance  and  imposture  have  infested  this 
holy  domain.  They  will  continue  to  infest  it  because  of  the 
intense  and  constant  interest  which  must  forever  surround 
the  subject,  until  science  shall  have  completely  illuminated  the 
most  recondite  secrets  of  our  frames,  and  the  holy  art  of  heal- 
ing shall  have  poured  its  successful  balm  into  every  wound, 
and  found  a specific  for  every  form  of  disease. 

That  will  be  the  golden  age. 

The  noble  profession  of  medicine  has  wrought  on  patiently, 
fervently,  honestly,  and  profoundly,  from  the  beginning,  and 
will  do  so  forever,  until  the  race  is  extinct  or  perfection  be 
attained.  Its  votaries  have  been  always  among  the  most  ad- 
vanced thinkers,  the  least  superstitious,  the  most  acute  and 
logical  investigators,  and  the  closest  in  their  relation  to  the 
actual  facts  of  human  experience,  in  their  largest  variety,  of 
all  those  who  have  been  devoted  to  intellectual  pursuits. 

More  of  good  has  come  to  humanity  in  daily’  ministrations 
from  the  medical  than  from  any  other  profession  or  class  of 
scientific  men.  Not  always  wise,  not  uninfluenced  by  the 
darkness  around  them,  its  members  have,  nevertheless,  dur- 
ing the  lapse  of  ages,  reared  a pyramid  of  glory  to  their 
profession  resting  upon  the  everlasting  foundations  of  truth ; 
and  thus  deservedly  have  won  the  confidence  and  affection  of 
the  masses  of  men,  in  proportion  to  the  degree  of  general  intel- 
ligence prevailing  among  those  who,  in  every  grave  emer- 
gency of  suffering  and  disease,  turn  to  their  good  physician 
for  relief. 

Upon  a great  question  like  this  before  us,  if  indeed  it  be  a 


THE  QUESTION  BEFORE  THE  PEOPLE . 


17 


question,  we  must,  as  reasonable  beings,  rely  upon  the  evi- 
dence of  medical  men. 

I say  "if  indeed  it  be  a question,”  because  there  are  those 
who  believe  that,  but  for  the  vast  pecuniary  interests  and  the 
death  clutch  of  appetite  already  existing,  the  common  judg- 
ment and  indignant  spontaneous  action  of  society  would  destroy 
the  liquor  traffic  as  instinctively  as  we  destroy  the  poisonous 
snake.  But,  as  things  actually  are,  as  we  find  them  in  the 
daily  contacts  of  life,  we  have  abundant  reason  to  bear  with 
one  another,  and  to  reason  together  upon  many  as  open  ques- 
tions, which  may  to  one  of  the  parties  seem  to  be  already 
clearly  settled.  So  it  now  is  in  regard  to  the  effect  of  alcohol 
upon  the  body. 

The  parties  to  this  controversy  cannot  agree.  The  issue  is 
before  the  country  and  the  world.  It  must  be  settled.  The 
physicians  are  the  experts  ; not  all  who  belong  to  the  profession 
in  a general  way,  for  its  departments  are  numerous,  and  each 
specialty  may  absorb  the  powers  of  the  greatest  of  men  ; many 
of  the  profession  have  never  studied  or  observed  specially  with 
reference  to  the  ascertainment  of  the  truth  bearing  upon  our 
subject.  But  there  have  been,  and  there  now  are,  some  of 
the  controlling  intellects  of  the  race,  and  most  eminent  mem- 
bers of  the  medical  profession  whose  conclusions,  based  upon 
scientific  observation  and  experiment,  are  accepted  as  authori- 
tative by  their  peers  in  other  departments  wherein  they  are 
themselves  "the  end  of  the  law.”  There  are  chemists  who 
have  pursued  our  subject  with  patient  and  profound  investiga- 
tion until  the  truth  has  been  revealed  too  vividly  for  contradic- 
tion. To  the  testimony  of  such  men  as  these  it  is  proper  that 
we  should  give  heed,  as  do  their  brethren,  conforming  their 
own  faith  and  practice  to  the  conclusions  of  the  wisest  and  best 
who  have  specially  investigatad  the  subject.  Upon  such 
evidence  as  this  we  act  in  all  the  important  concerns  of  life  ; 
and  he  who  should  adopt  any  other  rule  of  action  would  uni- 
versally be  dealt  with  as  bereft  of  reason — a drunkard  or  a 
fool. 

Nor  can  we  expect  that  all  doctors  will  agree,  for  it  must  be 
remembered  that  the  profession  is  made  up  of  men,  and  that,  in 
common  with  the  rest  of  humanity,  they  are  influenced  by  their 
surroundings,  by  the  traditions  and  circumstances  and  interests 
2 


18 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


which  have  enveloped  them,  so  that,  in  a certain  sense,  they, 
with  the  laity,  are  all  emerging  into  the  light  together.  But 
we  follow  the  lead  of  those  nearest  the  sun,  and  who  have 
specially  examined  this  subject.  Thus  upon  the  whole  mass 
of  evidence,  from  every  source,  let  us  finally  turn  the  clear, 
cold,  steady  eye  of  American  common  sense,  and  decide.. 

Whatever  may  be  the  conclusion  of  American  intellect,  thus 
formed,  let  us  act  upon  it  with  steady  and  irreversible  deter- 
mination. In  considering  the  effect  of  alcohol  upon  the  body 
and  mind,  care  should  be  taken  to  guard  against  any  prepos- 
session either  way. 

No  presumption  should  arise  from  the  drinking  customs  of 
society,  existing  from  the  earliest  time,  in  favor  of  this  drink, 
any  more  than  in  favor  of  war  or  slavery  among  all  nations, 
or  the  self-inflicted  cruelties  of  superstition,  the  hasheesh 
and  opium  habits,  which  afflict  hundreds  of  millions  of 
the  race,  or  any  other  admitted  evil  whose  long  exist- 
ence is  rather  a reason  for  its  instant  removal  than  its 
further  toleration.  An}r  gratification,  indulgence  or  evil  what- 
ever, which  becomes  entrenched  in  the  habits  and  prejudices 
of  men,  and  which  is  the  foundation  of  important  industries 
and  occupations,  will  be  sure  to  find  hosts  of  friends.  Its  re- 
moval, however  necessary,  will  never  be  popular,  at  least  not 
until  the  constant  demonstration  and  iteration  of  startling  truth 
has  at  last  aroused  both  the  conscience  and  self-interest  of 
society  as  a whole.  This  latter  stage  may  be  nearer  than  we 
think  with  the  alcoholic  drinking  customs  of  the  world,  but  in 
the  examination  of  the  evidence  it  is  important  to  act  alike 
without  prepossession  for  that  which  has  been  because  it  has 
been  and  still  may  be,  on  the  one  hand,  or  against  it  because 
of  the  wrongs  and  crimes  which  are  charged  on  the  other. 

We  should,  however,  keep  clearly  in  mind  that  there  is  no 
evidence  whatever,  nor  any  pretence  by  any  one  that  alcohol 
is,  or  in  any  form  ever  was,  one  of  the  general  and  indispen- 
sable necessaries  of  life,  like  milk,  water  or  bread. 

At  most,  its  use  is  only  claimed  to  be  desirable  and  pleasant 
as  a part  of  the  general  habit,  and  occasionally  necessary  in 
sickness  and  emergencies.  When  tremendous  evils  are  admits 
ted  to  follow  from  its  use,  or  its  abuse , if  you  please,  when 
that  abuse  is  shown  to  be  the  rule  and  not  the  exception,  the 


Hon,  Wi ilham  Window  > 

F.x- Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 


' ‘ v." 

-~--T/f'diHr.~  SwM 

USE  OF  DISTILLED  LIQUORS  OF  MODERN  DATE. 


19 


affirmative  is  upon  the  friends  of  this  enticing  and  powerful 
agency. 

It  is  said  of  Albucassis,  the  Arabian  chemist,  physician  and 
philosopher,  who  discovered  the  art  of  distillation  in  the  twelfth 
century,  and  of  those  who  came  to  the  knowledge  of  the  dread- 
ful nature  of  the  invention,  that  they  concealed  the  process 
from  general  knowledge,  so  that  its  use  for  centuries  was 
mostly  confined  to  the  laboratory,  and  perhaps  to  some  extent 
was  known  in  the  practice  of  medicine. 

However  this  may  be,  the  common  use  of  distilled  liquors, 
or  of  fermented  liquors,  fortified  with  spirits,  has  existed  for 
but  two  or  three  centuries.  The  result  has  been  the  develop- 
ment of  a destructive  drunkenness  among  civilized  nations 
never  before  known,  and  of  something  akin  to  the  annihilation, 
in  some  instances,  of  barbarous  or  savage  tribes,  with  whom 
their  mercenary  superiors  have  waged  a deadly  commerce  in 
these  modern  commodities. 

The  world  being  already  enchanted  and  enchained  by  fer- 
mented drinks,  and  capital,  appetite  and  labor  already  invested 
largely  in  their  production,  and  the  spirit  of  enterprise  awak- 
ing everywhere,  and  abandoning  the  fields  of  senseless  wars 
of  superstition  and  false  glory  for  those  of  maritime  discovery 
and  colonization  and  for  the  development  of  the  material, 
political  and  social  interests  of  the  common  people  of  the 
world,  the  general  application  of  distillation  to  the  manufac- 
ture of  alcohol  necessarily  followed.  The  liquor  traffic,  sanc- 
tioned by  public  toleration,  based  upon  custom,  appetite  and 
ignorance,  developed  everywhere  with  startling  rapidity. 

The  existence  of  evils  manifest  to  all,  and  of  others  unknown 
before  in  like  extent,  traceable  to  no  other  cause,  compelled 
inquiry  in  the  interest  of  self-preservation,  and,  during  the  last 
century,  the  investigation  has  been  diligently  conducted  by 
some  of  the  most  eminent  and  impartial  among  scientists  and 
practitioners  of  the  healing  art.  Their  researches  have  been  of 
the  most  laborious,  recondite  and  difficult  character.  The  ac- 
complishment of  their  task  has  been  the  work  of  no  one  man. 

It  was  early  agreed  that  the  abuses  of  alcohol,  in  its  use, 
were  so  wide-spread  and  devastating  as  to  be  almost  universal 
in  their  character.  But  still  the  one  vexed  question,  "is  the 
use  of  alcohol  as  a beverage  injurious  to  the  human  system 


20 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


in  a state  of  health?”  remained  unanswered,  because  actual 
demonstration,  based  upon  scientific  experiment,  had  not  yet 
been  achieved. 

In  1860,  it  was  supposed  to  be  settled,  by  the  experiments 
of  Lallemand,  Perrin  and  Duroy,  that  alcohol  was  never  a 
food ; that  it  never  was  decomposed  or  absorbed,  but  was 
always  a hostile  and  poisonous  intruder  in  the  human  system. 
They  actually  proved  that  alcohol  was  ejected  from  the  body 
in  its  pure,  unchanged  condition.  They  smelled  it  in  the 
breath,  and  in  the  cutaneous  exhalations ; they  found  it  in  the 
renal  and  other  rejections  ; the  post  mortem  revealed  it  in  the 
drunkard’s  brain  ; the  microscope  in  the  blood  where  it  shriv- 
eled and  coagulated  the  floating  particles  of  life ; animals 
living  and  dead  were  submitted  to  innumerable  and  various 
experiments  for  a long  period  of  time  ; always  these  laborious 
and  learned  observers  discovered  the  immaculate,  irreducible 
article,  just  as  it  had  been  introduced,  whether  by  the  victim 
or  the  investigator — the  absolute  alcohol. 

A series  of  such  experiments  is  no  trifling  matter  ; and  when 
these  able  and  faithful  men  had  closed  their  labors,  had  written 
out  their  conclusions,  men  of  science,  who  best  could  judge, 
rested  in  the  belief  which  they  announced,  that  alcohol  "taken 
into  the  living  body  accumulates  in  the  tissues,  especially  in 
the  liver  and  in  the  brain,  and  that  it  is  eliminated  by  the 
fluid  secretions,  notably  by  the  renal  secretion  as  alcohol. 
. . . . . The  experiments  carried  on  by  these  inquiries  were 
so  numerous  and  careful  and  the  results  they  arrived  at  were 
so  definitely  stated,  that  their  labors  were  for  a season  accept- 
ed as  conclusive  by  many  men  of  science  and  by  the  majority 
of  the  public.  It  was  ascertained  by  other  experimentalists 
that  alcohol  is  eliminated  by  the  system  in  the  direct  way,  as 
alcohol,  and  the  question  of  elimination  rested  as  if  it  had  been 
solved.” * 

But  what  had  actually  been  proven?  Not  all  that  was  in- 
ferred, by  any  means.  There  had  been — there  could  be  no 
test  to  prove  that  all  the  alcohol  taken  into  the  body  had  been 
ejected.  The  conclusion  was  too  broad  for  the  premises. 

Then  came  the  doubts  of  the  lamented  Dr.  Anstie,  whose 
experiments  and  inferences  with  those  of  Dr.  Thudicum,  and 

* Richardson's  Lectures  on  Alcohol,  p.  10G. 


DOUBTS  OF  DK.  ANSTIE. 


21 


Dupre,  and  Schulinus,  gave  great  comfort  to  the  friends  of  alco- 
hol and  were  the  medical  foundation  of  Gov.  Andrews’  famous 
argument  before  the  committee  of  the  Massachusetts  legislate 
ure,  in  the  year  1867. 

"They  prove  that  while  it  is  true  that,  under  certain  circum- 
stances alcohol  taken  into  the  body  will  pass  off  in  the  secre- 
tions unchanged,  the  quantity  so  eliminated  is  the  merest 
fraction  of  what  has  been  injected  ; and  that  there  must  be 
some  other  means  by  which  the  spirit  is  disposed  of  in  the 
organism.”* 

Dr.  Anstie  gave  to  a terrier  dog  which  weighed  ten  pounds, 
2000  grains  of  absolute  alcohol  in  ten  days.  On  the  tenth  day, 
from  all  the  channels  of  elimination  1.13  grains  were  obtained. 
Something  was  the  matter  with  that  dog,  and  another  experi- 
ment was  tried  in  which  the  same  quantit}r  of  alcohol  was  ad- 
ministered, in  the  same  time,  to  another  animal.  On  the  tenth 
day,  two  hours  after  the  last  dose — 95  grains — had  been  given 
the  animal  was  killed,  and  every  particle  of  the  body  and  con- 
tents subjected  to  analysis,  and  only  23.66  grains  of  alcohol 
obtained. 

This  then  was  demonstration  that  Lallemand  and  his  friends 
were  in  error ; not  in  what  they  proved,  but  in  what  they 
inferred  beyond  the  scope  of  their  experiments.  The  truth 
always  proves  itself,  but  no  more. 

Dr.  Anstie  and  his  friends  did  not  disprove  any  part  of  what 
Lallemand  had  established.  On  the  contrary  he  and  others 
demonstrated  it  all  over  again,  and  showed  that  a part  of  what 
is  taken  into  the  system,  if  there  be  more  than  the  system  oth- 
erwise disposes  of,  is  eliminated  from  the  body  in  the  form  of 
absolute  alcohol. 

Thereupon,  all  over  the  world,  the  other  side  of  the  contro- 
versy proceeded  to  infer  a great  deal  more  than  Anstie  and  his 
compeers  had  demonstrated,  to  be  in  their  turn  overthrown  by 
the  indefatigable  scientific  querist. 

We  are  apt  to  forget  the  atom  of  demonstration— the  little 
silent  but  mighty  truth  in  the  mass  of  clamorous  assertion  and 
unwarranted  inference  which  surrounds  it.  It  is  not  necessary 
for  the  sun  to  shine  but  once  to  demonstrate  its  power  to  shine, 
but  a thousand  electric  lights  cannot  prove  it. 

*Dr.  Richardson,  p.  107. 


22 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


One  real  experiment  is  sufficient,  but  that  experiment  must 
cover  the  case  and  tell  the  truth.  The  truth  once  told  is  the 
truth  forever. 

The  false  inferences  drawn  from  his  experiments  by  others, 
and  perhaps  also  by  Dr.  Anstie  himself,  and  all  the  arguments 
and  conclusions  based  upon  them,  have  since  been  destroyed  by 
Dr.  B.  AAR  Richardson  and  other  great  scientists.  But,  before 
proceeding  to  detail  their  demonstrations,  I will  quote  the 
touching  tribute  of  Dr.  Richardson  to  the  memory  ot  Dr.  Ans- 
tie, his  dead  co-laborer  and  friend,  who  wrote  his  last  paper 
in  the  year  1874. 

"Respecting  this  observer,  whose  friendship  1 owned  for 
many  years,  it  is  meet  for  me  to  pay  this  public  tribute  of 
respect ; that  no  man  I ever  knew  combined  with  vigor  of 
mind  more  incomparable  industry  and  courage,  or  a more  hon- 
orable regard  for  scientific  truth  and  honesty.  The  subject 
we  are  now  considering  has  lost  no  investigator  more  ably 
learned  for  the  work  that  still  remains  to  be  done.” 

In  stating  the  final,  or  at  least  the  latest,  demonstrations  of 
science  upon  this  subject,  we  must  follow  those  who  made 
them,  Dr.  Richardson  and  his  co-laborers,  and  I therefore  will 
state  the  case  as  it  stood  upon  the  evidence  when  Dr.  Anstie 
and  those  who  follow  him  left  it,  and  the  inferences  then  or 
since  entertained  by  them  in  the  language  of  Dr.  Richard- 
son himself,  which  goes  to  the  full  length  of  all  that  was 
demonstrated  or  fairly  claimed  in  favor  of  the  beneficial 
action  of  alcohol  upon  the  vital  economy.  " AYe  are  driven 
by  the  evidence  now'  before  us  to  the  certain  conclusion 
that  in  the  animal  body  alcohol  is  decomposed ; that  is 
to  say,  a certain  portion  of  it  (and  if  a certain  portion 
why  not  the  whole  ?)  is  transmutable  into  new  compounds.  The 
inference  that  might  be  drawn  is  fair  enough  that  the  alcohol 
is  lost  by  being  burned  in  the  body.  It  is  lost  in  the  body, 
and  out  of  the  body  it  will  burn.  If  it  will  burn  in  the  organ- 
ism it  wfill  supply  force,  for  it  enters  as  the  bearer  of  so  much 
potential  energy.  In  combining  with  oxygen  is  there  then  a 
development  of  force  or  heat  to  the  extent  that  would  be  de- 
veloped in  the  combustion  of  the  same  quantity  in  the  lamp  or 
from  the  distribution  of  it  over  the  platinum  block?  At  the 
same  time,  and  in  corroboration,  is  the  product  of  its  combus- 


ALCOHOL  IN  THE  BODY. 


23 


tion,  carbonic  acid,  to  be  discovered  in  the  excretions?  If 
there  be  heat,  and  if  there  be  product  of  carbon,  consumed  in 
oxygen,  then  alcohol  must  rank  as  a heat-forming  food.”  We 
have  here  then  the  simple  but  comprehensive  question : 
The  alcohol  being  in  the  body,  and  the  greater  part  of  it  not 
being  ejected  in  its  original  state,  what  becomes  of  it,  and 
what  effect  does  it  produce  in  its  new  situation? 

It  may  be  well  to  trace  it  as  closely  as  possible  in  accord- 
ance with  admitted  facts. 

Substances  introduced  into  the  body  may  have  a mere  me- 
chanical or  physiological  action,  or  they  mu}r  act  as  food  or 
nourishment  of  its  structure. 

Chloroform  and  opium  have  a marked  effect  upon  the  system, 
but  no  one  would  think  of  classing  them  as  foods. 

"The  living  animal  body  is  constructed  out  of  a few  simple 
forms  of  matter  which  possess,  during  life,  the  power  of  mo- 
tion  Whatever  helps  to  maintain  it  in  perfect  order 

of  construction,  whatever  enables  it  to  move  of  its  own  free 
will  and  motion,  may  be  considered  as  food.”  * 

Here  then  are  two  classes  of  substances,  one  of  which  nour- 
ishes structure,  the  other  produces  motion,  and  in  their  function 
as  food  the  one  builds  and  the  other  burns.  The  growth  and 
the  bulk  of  the  body  come  from  one,  action  from  the  other. 

Allusion  to  this  has  been  made  in  the  first  chapter. 

Alcohol  must  be  found  among  the  foods,  or  those  poisons 
which,  like  opium,  produce  physiological  action,  or  those  which 
go  into  and  out  of  the  body  mechanically  or  remain  there  with- 
out structural  change. 

But  we  have  already  seen  that  alcohol  is  in  the  body  for 
business,  and  hence  must  be  a food,  or  must  be  classed  with 
those  other  agents  which  produce  physiological,  that  is  func- 
tional, action — action  by  the  organs  of  the  body. 

Alcohol  may  lie  injected  under  the  skin  into  the  venous 
circulation.  It  may  be  taken  directly  to  the  stomach,  or 
absorbed  through  the  pores,  or  vaporized  and  inhaled.  In  any 
and  in  all  ways,  it  is  taken  up  by  the  appropriate  vessels 
and  carried  by  the  venous  system  to  the  heart.  Before  pure 
alcohol  will  flow  in  the  blood,  however,  it  will  remain  in  the 
stomach  or  wherever  it  first  finds  itself,  until  it  has  attracted 


Richardson,  p.  97. 


24 


the  temperance  movement. 


water,  for  which  it  has  an  intense  affinity,  to  its  liking,  when 
it  goes  on  its  way  with  the  tide  of  life.  It  flows  with  the  venous 
blood  to  the  right  auricle,  thence  downward  to  the  left  ventricle, 
by  which  it  is  thrown  upon  the  lungs,  when  the  blood  is  ox}Tgen- 
ized  by  contact  with  the  atmospheric  air ; thence  returning  to 
the  left  auricle  and  to  the  left  ventricle,  which  forces  the  cur- 
rent to  every  tissue  and  fiber  of  the  body.  The  arteries  divide 
and  subdivide  until  in  their  minute  extremities  they  become 
coterminous  with  like  infinitesimal  vascular  tubes,  which  are 
the  origin  of  the  venous  system.  Here  in  these,  but  for  the 
microscope,  invisible  arenas  the  vital  process  is  accomplished  ; 
the  exhausted  and  devitalized  waste  matter  gives  way  to  par- 
ticles just  from  living  nature,  which,  after  organic  incorpora- 
tion and  service  are  themselves  rejected  in  their  turn,  the 
venous  mass  flows  on  through  millions  of  trickling  rivulets  into 
brooks  and  rivers  which  drain  the  vast  and  mysterious  system 
again  into  the  ocean  of  the  heart.  What  is  the  power  which 
moves  this  organ  with  a perpetual  throb,  that  ceases  only  with 
life,  and  thus  carries  on  this  constant  creation  and  rebuilds 
this  unceasing  decay? 

Thus  alcohol  travels  with  the  blood,  floating  in  it,  not  of  it. 
What  does  it  on  its  travels?  Something  thereof  is  known. 

A little  passes  off  in  expiration  from  the  lungs — the  breath 
smells  of  it.  In  its  passage  through  the  minute  cells  or  aper- 
tures which  connect  the  arterial  and  venous  systems  it  comes 
in  contact  with  the  entire,  the  atomic , structure  of  the  whole 
bod}r.  In  these  recesses  it  remains,  in  some  a longer,  in  others 
a shorter,  time.  Organs  like  the  liver  and  the  kidneys,  have 
tubes  through  which  it  is  rapidly  taken  up  and  eliminated 
from  the  body — the  disposition  of  the  rest  is  what  we  are  try- 
ing to  find  out. 

It  is  sadd  that  unless  the  dose  be  large — semi-poisonous — 
the  blood  is  not  seriously  affected.  Seven  hundred  and  ninety 
parts  in  a thousand  of  the  blood  are  water,  yet  if  the  quantity 
of  alcohol  be  great  it  will  attack  the  fibrine,  the  plastic  matter 
which  coagulates,  and  of  which  there  are  but  two  or  three 
parts  in  a thousand  ; it  also  comes  in  contact  with  the  albu- 
men, of  which  there  are  seventy  parts  in  a thousand;  with 
the  salts,  ten  parts,  with  the  fatty  matter,  and  then  with  the 
blood  globules,  the  corpuscles  or  cells.  These  are  red  in 


EFFECT  OF  ALCOHOL  IN  THE  BLOOD. 


25 


color  and  give  that  hue  to  the  blood.  There  are  white  cells 
also  which  float  on  the  outside,  next  the  vascular  walls,  while 
the  red  globules  move  more  quickly  in  the  center  of  the  tide. 
The  red  corpuscles  are  the  most  important.  They  absorb 
the  ox}rgen  in  the  lungs  and  distribute  it  in  the  tissues,  while 
they  take  up  carbonic  acid  gas  and  cany  it  back  to  the  lungs 
for  ejection  from  the  system.  These  red  blood  corpuscles 
are  in  fact  the  tools  of  the  life — "the  vital  instruments  of 
the  circulation.”  I cannot  follow  this  matter  minutely,  how- 
ever important  it  is,  but  must  refer  the  reader  to  the  profes- 
sional works  from  which  I necessarily  borrow  it.  I can  only 
specify  in  sentences  what  there  occupies  pages.  Sometimes 
alcohol  will  cause  these  all  important  corpuscles  to  adhere 
in  rolls  ; it  may  shrivel  them  up  ; it  may  change  them  from 
a round  to  an  oval,  or  into  a truncated  form.  This  is  owing 
to  the  power  of  the  alcohol  to  chemically  attract  or  extract 
the  water  in  the  globule  for  itself.  If  the  dose  of  alcohol 
be  small,  it  satisfies  this  inclination  from  the  general  mass  of 
water  and  the  globule  escapes. 

To  whatever  extent  the  globule  is  affected  its  power  to  ab- 
sorb gases  is  impaired,  while  changes  in  its  mechanical  form 
and  their  aggregation  interferes  with  their  functions  and  with 
their  passage  through  the  minute  passages  of  their  circuit,  by 
which  mechanical  injury  is  done,  and  the  general  current  fails 
or  is  impeded  in  its  flow. 

Says  Dr.  Richardson, 

"From  this  distribution  of  blood  in  these  minute  vessels 
(those  connecting  the  arterial  and  venous  systems)  the  struct- 
ures of  organs  derive  their  constituent  parts  ; through  these 
vessels  brain  matter,  muscle,  gland,  membrane  is  given  out 
from  the  blood  Toy  a refined  process  of  selection,  which  up  to 
this  time  is  only  so  far  understood  as  to  enable  us  to  say  that 

it  exists The  minute  and  intermediate  vessels  are 

more  intimately  connected  than  any  other  part  with  the  con- 
struction and  with  the  formation  of  the  living  matter  of  which 
the  body  is  composed.”  " Infinitely  refined  in  structure,  they 
nevertheless  have  the  power  of  contraction  and  dilatation, 
wind 't  power  is  governed  by  nervous  action  of  a special  find.” 

It  is  indispensable  also  that  I copy  his  description  of  the 
dual  nervous  system  of  man.  After  explaining  their  mechan- 


26 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


ism  and  relations  to  each  other  he  says  : "Thus  man  has  two 
nervous  systems  : the  primary  nervous  chain  and  the  added 
centers  with  their  fibers.  The  two  systems  are  connected  by 
their  fibres  in  different  parts,  but  they  are  still  distinct  anatom- 
ically and  functionally.  The  primary  nervous  system  is  called 
the  system  of  the  organic  vegetative  or  animal  life  ; it  governs 
all  those  motions  which  are  purely  involuntary,  and  its  centers 
are  believed  by  some,  and  I think  with  perfect  correctness,  to 
be  the  seats  of  those  faculties  which  we  call  emotional  and 
instinctive.  The  centers  of  the  brain  and  spinal  cord  with  their 
parts  are  the  centers  of  the  motor,  and  volitional,  and  of  the 
reasoning  powers  ; of  all  those  faculties,  that  is  to  say,  which  are 

directly  under  the  influence  of  the  will  ; all  those 

minute  blood-vessels  at  the  extremities  of  the  circulation  are 
under  the  control  of  the  primary  or  organic  nervous  supply ; 
branches  of  nerves  from  these  organic  centers  ac- 
company every  arterial  vessel  throughout  the  body  to  its  ter- 
mination, and  without  direction  from  our  will  regulate  the 
contraction  and  dilatation  of  the  blood-vessels  to  their  most 
refined  distribution.”* 

“It  is  obvious  if  anything  occurs  to  cut  off  the  nervous 
supply,  that  paralysis  of  the  minute  circulation,  which  is  the 
process  of  living,  at  each  point  where  it  is  carried  on,  must 
follow.  This  may  occur  from  physical  impressions  ; or  mental 
emotion  may  produce  the  same  effect ; and  chemical  agents  can 
influence  the  organic  nervous  chain  so  as  to  disturb  its  func- 
tions after  the  manner  of  a pure  physical  act. 

"Still  further  in  advance,  and  with  the  mention  of  the  fact, 
I am  brought  back  to  the  subject  proper  of  my  lecture  ; we 
have  learned  that  certain  chemical  agents  can  so  influence  the 
organic  nervous  chain  as  to  disturb  its  functions,  after  the 

manner  of  a pure  physical  act 1 divined  from  the 

symptoms  it  (amyl)  produced,  that  it  influenced  the  organic 
nervous  fiber  precisely  after  the  manner  of  a division  of  that 

fiber The  whole  series  of  the  nitrates  possess  this 

power  of  relaxing  the  blood  vessels  at  their  extreme  parts ; 

alcohol  possesses  the  self-same  power.  It  paralyzes 

the  minute  blood  vessels,  and  allows  them  to  become  diluted 
with  the  flowing  blood.” 


Richardson,  p.  81. 


Canon  IVilherforce. 


EFFECT  OF  AVINE  AT  A BANQUET. 


27 


"If  you  attend  a large  dinner  party  you  will  observe  after 
the  first  few  courses,  when  the  wine  is  beginning  to  circulate, 
a progressive  change  in  some  of  those  about  you  who  have 
taken  wine.  The  face  begins  to  get  flushed,  the  eye  bright- 
ens, and  the  manner  of  conversation  becomes  loud.  "What  is 
the  reason  of  that  flushing  of  countenance?  It  is  the  same  as 
the  flush  from  blushing,  or  from  the  reaction  of  cold,  or  from 
the  nitrate  of  amyl.  It  is  the  dilatation  of  A’essels  following 
upon  the  loss  of  nervous  control,  which  reduction  has  been 
induced  by  alcohol.  In  a word,  the  first  stage — the  stage  of 
vascular  excitement  from  alcohol — has  been  established.  The 
action  of  alcohol  extending  so  far,  does  not  stop  there  : with 
the  disturbance  of  power  in  the  extreme  Aressels,  more  disturb- 
ance is  set  up  in  other  organs,  and  the  first  organ  that  shares 
in  it  is  the  heart.  With  each  beat  of  the  heart  a certain  de- 
gree of  resistance  is  offered  by  the  vessels,  when  their  nervous 
supply  is  perfect,  and  the  stroke  of  the  heart  is  moderated 
both  in  respect  to  tension  and  as  to  time  ; but  when  the  Ares- 
sels  are  rendered  relaxed,  the  resistance  is  removed,  the  heart 

t 

begins  to  run  quicker — like  a watch  from  which  the  pallets 
have  been  removed — and  the  heart-stroke  losing  nothing  in 
force  is  greatly  increased  in  frequency,  with  a weakened  recoil 

stroke You  will  lie  interested  to  know  to  what  extent 

this  increase  of  vascular  action  proceeds.” 

After  detailing  attempted  experiments  by  himself  which 
Avere  not  satisfactory  Dr.  Richardson  proceeds  : "Fortunately 
this  information  has  been  far  more  ably  supplied  by  the  re- 
searches of  Dr.  Parlies  of  Netlcy,  and  the  late  Count  Wol- 
lowicz.  The  researches  of  these  distinguished  inquirers  are 
so  valuable  I make  no  apology  for  giving  them  in  detail. 
The  observers  conducted  their  inquiries  upon  a young  and 
healthy  adult  man.  They  counted  the  beats  of  the  heart  first 
at  regular  intervals  during  what  were  called  water  periods, 
that  is  to  sav,  periods  Avhen  the  subject  under  observation 
drank  nothing  but  water ; and  next,  taking  the  same  subject, 
they  counted  the  beats  of  the  heart  during  successive  periods 
during  which  alcohol  was  taken  in  increasing  quantities.  Thus, 
step  by  step,  they  measured  the  precise  action  of  alcohol  on 
the  heart,  and  thereby  the  precise  primary  influence  induced 
by  alcohol.  The  results  are  stated  by  themselves  as  follows : 


28 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


EXPERIMENTS  OF  DR.  PARIvES  AND  COUNT  WOLLOWICZ. 

"The  average  number  of  beats  of  the  heart  in  24  hours,  as 
calculated  from  eight  observations  made  in  14  hours,  during 
the  first  or  water  period,  was  106,000  ; in  the  earlier  alcoholic 
period  it  was  127,000,  or  about  21,000  more  ; and  in  the  later 
period  it  was  131,000,  or  25,000  more. 

The  highest  of  the  daily  means  of  the  pulse  observed  during 
the  first  or  water  period  was  77.55  ; but  on  this  da}’  two  ob- 
servations were  deficient.  The  next  highest  daily  mean  (water 
days)  was  77  beats. 

If  instead  of  the  mean  of  the  eight  days,  or  73.57,  we 
compare  the  mean  of  this  one  day,  viz.  : 77  beats  per  minute, 
with  the  alcoholic  days,  so  as  to  be  sure  not  to  overestimate 
the  action  of  the  alcohol  we  find  : — 

"On  the  9th  day,  with  one  fluid  ounce  of  alcohol,  the  heart 
beat  4,300  times  more. 

" On  the  10th  day,  with  two  fluid  ounces,  8,172  times 
more. 

"On  the  11th  day,  with  four  fluid  ounces,  12,960  times 
more. 

"On  the  12th  day,  with  six  fluid  ounces,  30,672  times 
more. 

"On  the  13th  day,  with  eight  fluid  ounces,  23,904  times 
more. 

"On  the  14th  day,  with  eight  fluid  ounces,  25,488  times 
more. 

"But  as  there  was  ephemeral  fever  on  the  12th  day,  it  is 
right  to  make  a deduction,  and  to  estimate  the  number  of  beats 
on  that  day  as  midway  between  the  11th  and  13th  days,  or 
18,432. 

"Adopting  this,  the  mean  daily  excess  of  beats  during  the 
alcoholic  days  was  14,492,  or  an  increase  of  rather  more  than 
13  per  cent. 

"The  first  day  of  alcohol  gave  an  excess  of  4 per  cent.,  and 
the  last  of  23  per  cent.  ; and  the  mean  of  these  two  gives  almost 
the  same  percentage  of  excess  as  the  mean  of  the  six  days. 

"Admitting  that  each  beat  of  the  heart  was  as  strong  during 
the  alcoholic  period  as  in  the  water  period  (and  it  was  really 
more  powerful)  the  heart  on  the  last  two  days  of  alcohol  was 
doing  one-fifth  more  work. 


EXTRA  WORK  OF  THE  HEART. 


29 


"Adopting  the  lowest  estimate  which  has  been  given  of  the 
daily  work  of  the  heart,  viz.,  as  equal  to  122  tons  lifted  one 
foot,  the  heart  during  the  alcoholic  period  did  daily'  work  in 
excess  equal  to  lifting  15.8  tons  one  foot,  and  in  the  last  two 
days  did  extra  work  to  the  amount  of  24  tons  lifted  as  far. 

"The  period  of  rest  for  the  heart  was  shortened,  though, 
perhaps,  not  to  such  an  extent  as  would  be  inferred  from  the 
number  of  beats,  for  each  contraction  was  sooner  over.  The 
heart  on  the  fifth  and  sixth  days  after  alcohol  was  left  off,  and 
apparently  at  the  time  when  the  last  traces  of  alcohol  were 
eliminated,  showed  in  the  sphygmographic  tracings  signs  of 
unusual  feebleness  ; and,  perhaps,  in  consequence  of  this,  when 
the  brandy  quickened  the  heart  again,  the  tracings  showed  a 
more  rapid  contraction  of  the  ventricles,  but  less  power  than 
in  the  alcoholic  period.  The  brandy  acted,  in  fact,  on  a heart 
whose  nutrition  had  not  been  perfectly  restored.” 

Commenting  upon  these  remarkable  results  of  experiments, 
the  reliability  of  which  as  data  for  the  public  to  depend  upon, 
he  avers,  by  adopting  them  as  the  basis  of  his  own  opinions, 
Dr.  Richardson  says : 

" It  will  seem  at  first  sight  almost  incredible  that  such  an 
excess  of  work  could  be  put  upon  the  heart,  but  it  is  perfectly 
credible  when  all  the  facts  are  known.  The  heart  of  an  adult 
man  makes,  as  we  see  above,  73.57  strokes  per  minute.  This 
number  multiplied  by  sixty  for  the  hour,  and  again  by  twenty- 
four  for  the  entire  day,  would  give  nearly  106,000,  as  the 
number  of  strokes  per  day.  There  is,  however,  a reduction 
of  stroke  produced  by  assuming  the  recumbent  position,  and 
by  sleep,  so  that  for  simplicity’s  sake  we  may  take  off  the 
6,000  strokes,  and  speaking  generally,  may  put  the  average 
at  100,000,  in  the  entire  day. 

% With  each  of  these  strokes  the  two  ventricles  of  the  heart 
as  they  contract,  lift  up  into  their  respective  vessels  three 
ounces  of  blood  each,  that  is  to  say,  six  ounces  with  the  com- 
bined stroke,  or  600,000  in  the  twenty-four  hours.  The  equiv- 
alent of  work  rendered  by  this  simpler  calculation  would  be 
116  foot  tons  ; and  if  we  estimate  the  increase  of  work  induced 
by  alcohol  we  shall  find  that  four  ounces  of  spirit  increase  it 
one  eighth  part ; six  ounces  one  sixth  part ; and  eight  ounces 
one  fourth  part.” 


30 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


Dr.  Richardson  then  proceeds  to  trace  the  known  action  of 
alcohol  on  the  system  still  further ; he  shows  that  the  flush 
seen  on  the  cheek  arising  from  the  endorsement  of  the  minute 
blood  vessels  on  the  surface,  the  consequence  of  their  relaxa- 
tion b}7  partial  paralysis,  is  universal  in  the  bod}7 — not  merely 
in  the  face,  but  in  the  brain,  the  lungs,  the  kidneys,  liver, 
and  spleen — a universal  " vascular  engorgement  — that  the  ac- 
tion of  alcohol  being  continued  beyond  the  first  stage,  the  func- 
tion of  the  spinal  cord  is  influenced,  and  the  automatic  action, 
or  that  of  a mechanical  kind,  which  proceeds  when  we  are 
thinking  or  speaking  of  other  subjects  ; the  process  of  breath- 
ing, digestion,  secretion,  elimination,  and  the  like  are  inter- 
fered with  and  no  longer  correctly  carried  on. 

It  requires  a distinct  exertion  of  the  "higher  intellectual 
center  ” that  the  hand  may  reach  its  object  or  the  foot  be  rightly 
planted ; the  nervous  control  of  the  muscles  is  lost  and  the 
"nervous  stimulus”  more  or  less  enfeebled;  and  the  muscles 
fail  in  power,  coming  under  the  influence  of  the  "paralyzing 
agent,”  their  structure  temporarily  deranged  and  their  con- 
tractile power  reduced.  Then  the  cerebral  or  brain  centres 
are  reduced  in  power,  and  the  controlling  influence  of  will  and 
judgment  are  lost.  These  centres  are  thrown  " into  chaos  ; the 
rational  nature  of  man  gives  way  before  the  emotional,  pas- 
sional, or  organic  part.  The  reason  is  now  off  duty,  or  is 
fooling  with  duty,  and  all  the  mere  animal  instincts  and  senti- 
ments are  laid  atrociously  bare.  The  coward  shows  up  more 
craven,  the  braggart  more  boastful,  the  cruel  more  merciless, 
the  untruthful  more  false,  and  the  carnal  more  degraded. 

"In  vino  veritas  ” expresses  even,  indeed,  to  physiological 
accuracy,  the  true  condition.  The  reason,  the  emotions,  the 
instincts,  are  all  in  a state  of  carnival,  and  in  chaotic  feeble- 
ness. 

"Finally,  the  action  of  the  aiconoi  still  extending,  the  supe- 
rior brain  centres  arc  overpowered  ; the  senses  are  beclouded, 
the  voluntary  muscular  prostration  is  perfected,  sensibility  is 
lost,  and  the  body  lies  a mere  log,  dead  by  all  but  one-fourth, 
on  which  alone  its  life  hangs.  The  heart  still  remains  true  to 
its  duty,  and  while  it  just  lives  it  feeds  the  breathing  power, 
and  so  the  circulation  and  the  respiration,  in  the  otherwise  inert 
mass,  keep  the  mass  within  the  bare  domain  of  life  until  the 


THE  REASON  OFF  DUTY. 


31 


poison  begins  to  pass  away  and  the  nervous  centres  to  revive 
again.  It  is  happy  for  the  inebriate  that  as  a rule  the  brain 
fails  so  long  before  the  heart,  that  he  has  neither  power  nor 
the  sense  to  continue  his  process  of  destruction  up  to  the  act 
of  the  death  of  his  circulation.  Therefore  he  lives  to  die 
another  day.” 

"Thus  there  are  four  stages  of  alcoholic  action  in  the  pri- 
mary form  ; (a)  a stage  of  vascular  excitement  and  exhaus- 
tion ; (b)  a stage  of  excitement  and  exhaustion  of  the  spinal 
cord,  with  muscular  perturbation  ; (c)  a stage  of  unbalanced 
reasoning  power  and  of  volition  ; (cl)  a stage  of  complete  col- 
lapse of  nervous  function.” 

Prolonged  use  of  the  poison  results  in  the  aggravation  of  all 
the  injuries  already  described,  in  disgusting  external  indica- 
tions of  the  hellish  work  and  destructive  changes  of  the  organs 
within. 


CHAPTER  III. 


ALCOHOL  NOT  A FOOD. 

Can  it  be  a very  Bad  and  a very  Good  Thing  at  the  Same  Time— How 
Ale  and  Beer  Fatten— Ur.  Richardson’s  Examination  of  the  Qualities  of 
Alcohol  as  a Food — No  Claim  to  Efficacy  in  Structure  Building — The 
Search  of  the  Physicians  for  a Virtue  in  Alcohol— Four  Stages  of 
Change  Produced  on  the  Body  by  Liquor— How  Alcohol  gets  out  of  the 
Body— If  it  is  not  a Food  there  is  no  Occasion  for  its  Consumption  as  a 
Drink. 

AN  O far,  we  have  traced  the  action  of  alcohol  from  its  intro- 
duction  to  the  body  in  its  known  effects,  as  demonstrated 
by  actual  experiment,  or  by  the  admitted  facts  of  common  ex- 
perience. Its  action,  so  far,  is  evil,  and  that  continually.  It 
would  be  singular  if  an  agent  which  works  such  destruction, 
should  also  at  the  same  time,  in  the  same  body,  exert  any 
beneficial  effect.  IIow  can  it  be  possible  that  the  same  thing 
which,  in  certain  quantities  and  methods  of  administration,  is 
known  to  paralyze  the  nervous  force,  to  derange  the  circula- 
tion of  the  blood,  dominate  the  muscular  power,  disintegrate 
the  vital  organs,  drive  the  heart  like  a slave  to  its  task  with 
whip  and  scourge,  dethrone  reason  and  turn  loose  the  faculties, 
emotions  and  passions,  in  full  riot  over  the  prostrate  moral 
nature  for  the  time,  and,  if  long  indulged,  then  for  all  time, 
completely  effacing  the  image  of  God,  and  producing  a hideous 
caricature  abhorrent  even  to  the  beasts  that  perish — how  can 
it  be  possible  that  the  agency  which  is  admitted  to  do  all  this, 
and  more  of  horror  which  language  cannot  portray,  is  also  a 
healing  angel,  a nourishing  mother,  a messenger  of  life  and 
happiness  to  that  normal  and  healthy  organization  which  the 
Almighty  bestowed  upon  man  in  the  beginning?  I speak  not 
now  of  what  may  sometimes  be  done  by  poison  to  arrest  dis- 
ease, or  to  mitigate  the  agony  of  the  surgeon’s  knife. 

But  how  is  it  possible  that  this  instrumentality,  offensive  to 
every  unperverted  nostril  and  palate — the  alert  natural  guard- 
ians of  the  gate  through  which  both  structural  and  respiratory 


ALCOHOL  NOT  A FOOD. 


33 


foods  enter  the  stomach  and  lungs,  their  respective  digestive 
laboratories — confessed  to  be  the  cause  of  all  the  destructive 
consequences  already  set  forth  to  human  beings  in  health,  for 
whose  continued  welfare  wholesome  food  and  grateful  bever- 
ages, wholly  free  from  it,  are  necessary,  can  by  possibility  do 
them  any  good  at  all  ? 

It  is  certain  that  we  continue  this  search  after  the  further 
action  of  alcohol  and  its  final  disposition  in  or  by  the  body, 
with  the  strongest  presumption  that  its  history  will  be  one  of 
consistent  hurt  and  misery  to  the  end. 

At  this  point  arises  the  crucial  question  : Is  alcohol  in  any 
quantity  a food — nitrogenous,  structure-building , or  respira- 
tory food — creal  ing  force  ? 

If  it  be  in  either  way,  and  in  any  manner,  and  in  any  quan- 
tity a food,  then  alcohol  is  a good  thing  when  properly  used — 
presumptions  are  in  its  favor — laws  and  restrictions  should  be 
directed  not  to  the  prohibition  of  a bad  thing,  but  to  the  pro- 
hibition of  the  unreasonable  use  of  a good  thing. 

This  must  be  the  logical  result,  or  it  must  be  shown  satis- 
factorily that  alcohol  is  a good  thing,  but  so  dangerous  by 
reason  of  the  inevitable  wrongs  and  injuries  which  accompany 
it  that  for  the  general  good  it  must  be  banished  from  use, 
regardless  of  the  choice  of  the  consumer. 

This  question  also  must  be  determined  by  science.  While 
I am  not  aware  that  anything  offensive  to  the  unperverted 
taste  is  a natural  beverage  or  food,  }’et  there  are  substances 
and  beverages  which  habit  has  made  agreeable,  which  are  in- 
jurious and  even  virulent  poisons.  Appetite  and  desire  are 
not  infallible  judges  of  the  truth  in  case  like  this. 

The  common  knowledge  of  mankind  is  not  to  be  discarded  ; 
all  the  evidence  must  go  to  the  jury,  but,  as  in  all  judicial  in- 
vestigations, if  there  be  questions  which  are  beyond  the  control 
of  facts  within  common  knowledge  or  experience,  then  those 
who  have  special  competency  to  testify,  either  to  facts  or  to 
opinions  drawn  from  them,  must  be  called  in  to  settle  the  con- 
troversy, if  so  lie  that  even  their  intelligence  has  yet  compre- 
hended the  truth. 

Is  then  alcohol  a food? 

One  thing  is  conceded  by  all,  and  Dr.  Richardson  thus  states 
this  common  ground  of  agreement : 

3 


34 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


"Alcohol  contains  no  nitrogen,  it  has  none  of  the  qualities 
of  these  structure-building  foods  ; it  is  incapable  of  being  trans- 
formed into  any  of  them  ; it  is  therefore  not  a food  in  the  sense 
of  its  being  a constructive  agent  in  the  building  up  of  the  body. 
In  respect  to  this  view  there  is,  I believe  now,  no  difference 
of  opinion  amongst  those  •who  have  most  carefully  observed 
the  action  of  alcohol.” 

The  question  arises  then  whether  alcohol  is  a fat-forming 
food,  and  this  is  in  dispute.  Ale  and  beer  fatten,  but  it  ap- 
pears to  be  settled  that  it  is  not  the  alcohol  but  the  sugar  or 
starch  in  them,  and  in  some  other  drinks,  which  fattens.  Dr. 
Richardson  says:  "This  tallies  also  with  the  observations  on 
the  action  of  absolute  alcohol  upon  inferior  animals,  for  they 
certainly,  under  that  influence,  if  they  are  allowed  liberty  to 
move  freely,  do  not  fatten.” 

Alcohol  induces  sleep,  and  the  tendency  to  fatten  may  be 
facilitated  in  that  way,  but  the  sleep  itself  thus  induced,  if  not 
medicinal,  is  an  injury.  "There  is  no  chemical  fact  which  sup- 
ports the  hypothesis  ” of  the  origin  of  fatty  material  direct 
from  alcohol. 

"In  conclusion,  therefore,  upon  this  one  point  of  alcohol,  its 
use  as  a builder  of  the  substantial  parts  of  the  animal  organ- 
ism, I fear  I must  give  up  all  hope  of  affirmative  proof.  It 
does  not  certainly  help  to  build  up  the  active  nitrogenous 
structures.  It  probably  does  not  produce  fatty  matter,  except 
by  an  indirect  and  injurious  interference  with  the  natural 
processes.” 

I submit  that  upon  any  such  evidence  as  this,  which  is  the 
most  recent  utterance  of  as  competent  a witness  as  is  now  liv- 
ing, and  who,  so  far  as  I know,  is  uncontradictcd  by  any  witness 
whose  investigations  are  recent  and  accepted  as  authority  in 
the  profession,  while  they  are  corroborated  by  many  of  his 
associates  among  its  most  eminent  members,  it  cannot  be 
claimed,  that  the  strong  presumption  existing  against  the 
probability  that  there  is  any  food-creating  power  in  alcohol, 
is  removed,  far  less  is  such  beneficial  quality  established. 

But  may  not  alcohol  burn  in  the  lungs,  and  in  the  secret 
places  where  life  does  its  invisible  work,  and  thus  give  force 
and  motion  ? AVhat  if  this  be  so  ? All  this  is  certainly  done 
better  without  than  with  it.  Certainly,  a health}7  person  is  no 


SEARCHING  FOR  A VIRTUE. 


35 


better  in  this  respect  for  the  alcohol  that  is  in  him.  Alcohol 
will  burn  somewhat  with  oxygen,  but  not  so  well  as  pure  car- 
bon or  pure  hydrogen.  This  may  liberate  some  heat.  The 
earlier  physiologists  of  this  century  came,  naturally  enough,  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  alcohol  taken  into  the  body  is  consumed 
there  with  the  evolution  of  heat.  Then  came  the  investigations 
of  Lallemand,  Perrin  and  Duroy  in  1860,  who  believed  that 
all  the  alcohol  taken  into  the  body  was  eliminated,  or  remained 
there  unchanged ; then  the  investigations  and  theories  of  Dr. 
Anstie  and  others,' contradicting  this  view,  and  realty  leaving 
the  doctors  undecided  and  disagreeing  among  themselves  so 
far  as  opinions  and  inferences  are  concerned  ; but  with  the  ex- 
periments of  Lallemand  and  Dr.  Anstie,  both  apparently 
reliable,  and  really  in  no  wise  conflicting. 

Dr.  Lallemand  proved  that  some  of  the  alcohol  ingested  was 
eliminated  from  the  system  of  his  subject  unchanged,  but  not 
all  of  it.  Still  it  might  have  been  so  eliminated. 

Dr.  Anstie  proved  that  most  of  the  alcohol  ingested  was 
not  eliminated  at  all,  because  he  killed  the  creature  instantly 
after  the  liquid  was  swallowed.  Then  he  further  proved  that 
it  was  decomposed  in  some  way,  because,  by  chemical  anal 3’ sis 
he  found  that  only  a very  small  proportion  of  the  alcohol  intro- 
duced was  in  the  body.  But  he  killed  the  animal  instantly 
and  painlessly.  How  then  could  the  alcohol  have  been  burned 
in  the  body  ? "Would  combustion  go  on  after  death — when  res- 
piration is  stopped  and  the  circulation  forever  still?  If  so, 
and  assuming  that  combustion  might  go  on,  why  not  Dr.  Lal- 
lemand’s  methods  of  elimination  also?  Besides,  Dr.  Anstie 
must  have  begun  his  analysis  at  once,  at  least  it  is  to  be  so 
presumed — the  contrary  is  not  shown,  and  the  analysis  must 
have  interrupted  the  proceedings  in  that  dog’s  body  even  if 
death  did  not. 

How  did  the  alcohol  get  even  out  of  the  stomach  when  all 
processes  were  instantly  arrested  ? How  came  the  last  ninety- 
five  grains  of  alcohol  to  be  changed  at  all,  and  only  23.66  grains 
to  remain,  after  instant  death,  of  the  2000  grains  of  pure 
alcohol  which  that  terrier  dog  took  in  ten  days?  It  seems  to 
me  that  there  was  aleak  in  that  dog  of  Dr.  Anstie,  or  in  the 
experiment  itself.  It  is  however  accepted  as  a good  experi- 
ment by  the  faculty,  and  as  a layman  I accept  it  in  becoming 


\ 


3G  THE  TE3IPEKANCE  MOVEMENT. 

faith  and  acquiescence.  I hope,  however,  that  when  all  evi- 
dence shows  that  alcohol  taken  in  large  quantities  lingers  in  the 
system  for  days  and  weeks  even,  and  Dr.  Anstie’s  ten-pound 
terrier  had  taken  two  hundred  grains  per  diem  for  ten  days 
in  succession,  and  then  had  swallowed  ninety-five  more  as  he 
drew  his  final  breath,  that  I may  be  excused  from  reversing  all 
my  previous  views  in  regard  to  the  liquor  traffic,  upon  the 
ground  that  the  alcohol  was  burned  up  in  the  dead  body  of 
this  poor  dog.  To  my  mind  he  died  in  vain.  Let  those  ex- 
plain what  did  become  of  it  whose  case  rests  upon  such 
questionable  data. 

I am  content  to  leave  the  question  whether  or  not  alcohol 
be  respiratory  or  force-producing  food,  where  it  rested  between 
Dr.  Lallemand  and  Dr.  Anstie,  as  unsettled,  upon  the  evidence 
which  the  scientific  world  then  possessed. 

But,  fortunately,  that  is  not  all  of  the  case. 

The  question  still  remains,  Is  alcohol  a heat-making  food? 

It  is  so,  if  it  causes  the  increase  of  animal  heat.  In  this  con- 
nection the  researches  of  Dr.  Richardson  commenced  in  the 
year  18G4,  and  his  conclusions,  continually  fortified  until  the 
present  time,  are  the  most  careful,  profound,  advanced  and 
important  ever  made.  In  no  work,  pretending  to  discuss  this 
all-important  subject  at  all,  would  the  omission  of  Dr.  Richard- 
son’s unabbreviated  account  of  these  labors  be  excusable. 

In  his  Cantor  Lectures  he  saA's  : "Does  alcohol  cause  in- 
crease of  animal  heat?”  and  proceeds  with  the  discussion  as 
follows  : 

"In  putting  before  you  this  inquiiy,  I am  prepared  to 
answer  by  direct  knowledge  gained  from  individual  experi- 
ment. In  the  course  of  some  researches  I had  to  make  for 
reports  rendered  to  the  British  Association  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Science,  it  became  a part  of  my  duty  to  ascertain  what 
elfeet  certain  chemical  agents  exert  over  the  animal  tempera- 
ture. Amongst  these  agents  Avas  alcohol. 

"At the  time  Avhen  my  researches  commenced — amz.,  in  the 
year  1SG4,  there  Avas  nothing  definitely  known  on  the  subject. 
The  thermometer  was  not  then  in  such  general  use  as  it  is  now, 
and  it  had  not  been  applied,  as  far  as  I know,  to  this  particu- 
lar determination.  Generally,  hoAvever,  it  had  been  assumed 
by  a majority  of  persons  that  alcohol  Avarms  the  body,  and  to 


Hon.  A.  H.  Colquitt , 

United  States  Senator  from  Georgia 


DR.  RICHARDSON  S FINDINGS. 


37 


' take  just  a drop  to  keep  out  the  cold’  had  been  the  practice 
which  the  experience  of  ages  seemed  to  justify.  It  is  fair,  at 
the  same  time,  to  say  that  Dr.  Lees,  and  some  other  far-seeing 
observers,  had  for  many  years  held  and  asserted  a different 
view.  They  had  not  entered  into  minuteness  of  experimental 
detail,  hut  they  had  observed  from  the  effects  of  alcohol  on 
those  who  had  been  exposed  to  cold  in  the  extreme  North  and 
in  other  regions  of  ice  and  snow,  that  the  drinkers  did  not  live 
on  like  other  men.  Thus,  in  so  far  as  I had  what  is  called 
experience  to  guide  me,  I found  conflict  of  opinion.  It  was 
not  my  business,  however,  to  accept  guidance  of  this  kind,  but 
to  appeal  to  the  only  safe  guide,  the  direct  interrogation  of 
nature  by  experiment. 

" It  were  impossible  for  me  to  recount  the  details  of  the  long 
research — extending  with  intervals  of  rest,  over  three  years — 
which  was  conducted  in  my  laboratory,  to  determine  the  influ- 
ence of  alcohol  on  the  animal  temperature.  The  effects  were 
observed  on  warm-blooded  animals  of  different  kinds,  includ- 
ing birds ; on  the  human  subject  in  health,  and  on  the  same 
subject  under  alcoholic  disease.  Similar  experiments  were 
made  in  different  external  temperatures  of  the  air,  ranging 
from  summer  heat  to  ten  degrees  below  freezing  point.  The 
whole  were  carried  on  from  experiment  to  experiment,  with- 
out regard  either  to  comparison  or  result,  until  the  general 
character  of  the  result  began  to  proclaim  that  a rule  existed 
which  could  rarely  be  considered  exceptional.  The  facts 
obtained  I may  epitomize  as  follows  : 

" The  progressive  stages  of  change  of  animal  function  from 
alcohol  are  four  in  number.  The  first  is  a stage  of  excitement, 
when  there  exists  that  relaxation  and  injection  of  the  blood- 
vessels of  the  minute  circulation  with  which  we  have  become 
conversant.  The  second  is  the  stage  of  excitement  with  some 
muscular  inability  and  deficient  automatic  control.  The  third 
is  a stage  of  rambling,  incoherent,  emotional  excitement,  with 
loss  of  voluntary  muscular  power,  and  ending  in  helpless  un- 
consciousness. The  fourth  and  final  stage  is  that  in  which  the 
heart  itself  begins  to  fail,  and  which  death,  in  extreme  instances 
of  intoxication,  closes  the  scene.  These  stages  are  developed 
in  all  the  warm-blooded  animals,  and  the  changes  of  tempera- 
ture throughout  the  whole  are  relatively  the  same. 


38 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


"In  the  first  stage  the  external  temperature  of  the  body  is 
raised.  In  birds — pigeons — the  rise  may  amount  to  a full 
degree  on  Fahrenheit’s  scale ; in  mammals  it  rarely  exceeds 
half  a degree,  and  in  the  confirmed  inebriate,  in  whom  the  cuta- 
neous vessels,  are  readily  engorged,  I have  seen  it  run  up  to 
a degree  and  a half.  In  this  case  the  effect  on  the  extremities 
of  the  nerves  is  that  of  a warm  glow,  like  what  is  experi- 
enced during  the  reaction  from  cold. 

"The  heat  felt  in  this  stage  might  be  considered  as  due  to  the 
combustion  of  the  alcohol ; it  is  not  so  ; it  is  in  truth  a process 
of  cooling.  It  is  from  the  unfolding  of  the  larger  sheet  of  the 
warm  blood  and  from  the  quicker  radiation  of  heat  from  that 
larger  surface.  During  this  stage,  which  is  comparatively 
brief,  the  internal  temperature  is  declining,  the  expired  air 
from  the  lungs  is  indicating,  not  an  increase,  but  the  first  period 
of  reduction  in  the  amount  of  carbonic  acid,  and  the  reddened 
surface  of  the  body  is  so  reduced  in  tonicity  that  cold  applied 
to  it  increases  the  suffusion.  It  is  this  most  deceptive  stage 
that  led  the  older  observers  into  the  error  that  alcohol  warms 
the  body. 

"In  the  second  stage,  the  temperature  first  comes  down  to 
its  natural  standard  and  then  declines  to  what  is  below  natural. 
The  fall  is  not  considerable.  In  birds  it  reaches  from  one  and 
a half  to  two  degrees.  In  other  animals,  dogs  and  guinea 
pigs,  it  rarely  exceeds  one  degree ; in  man  it  is  confined  to 
three  fourths  of  a degree.  In  a room  heated  to  G5°  or  70°  the 
decrease  of  animal  temperature  may  not  actually  be  perceived  ; 
but  it  is  quickly  detected  if  the  person  iir  whom  it  is  present 
pass  into  a colder  atmosphere ; and  it  lasts,  even  when  the 
further  supply  of  alcohol  is  cut  off,  for  a long  period — viz., 
from  two  and  a half  to  three  hours.  It  is  much  prolonged  by 
absence  of  food. 

" During  the  third  degree  the  fall  of  temperature  rapidly 
increases,  and  as  the  fourth  stage  is  approached  it  reaches  a 
decline  that  becomes  actually  dangerous.  In  birds  the  reduc- 
tion  may  be  five  degrees  and  a half,  and  in  other  animals  three. 
In  man  it  is  often  from  two  and  a half  to  three  degrees.  There 
is  always  during  this  stage  a profound  sleep  or  coma,  and 
■while  this  lasts  the  temperature  continues  reduced. 

"It  is  here  worthy  of  incidental  notice  that,  as  a rule,  the 


EFFECT  OX  ANIMAL  HEAT. 


39 


sleep  of  apoplexy  and  the  sleep  of  drunkenness  may  be  dis- 
tinguished by  a marked  difference  in  the  animal  temperature. 
In  apoplexy  the  temperature  of  the  body  is  above,  in  drunk- 
enness below,  the  natural  standard  of  98°  of  Fahrenheit’s  scale. 

" Under  favorable  circumstances  a long  period  is  required 
before  the  body  recovers  its  natural  warmth  after  such  a reduc- 
tion of  heat  as  follows  the  extreme  stage  of  alcoholic  intoxica- 
tion. With  the  first  conscious  movements  of  recovery  there 
is  a faint  rise,  but  such  is  the  depression  that  these  very  move- 
ments exhaust  and  lead  to  a further  reduction.  I have  known 
as  long  a period  as  three  days  required  in  a man  to  bring  back 
a steady,  natural  return  of  the  full  animal  warmth. 

" Through  every  stage , then,  of  the  action  of  alcohol — barring 
the  first  stage  of  excitement,  I found  a reduction  of  animal 
heat  to  be  the  special  action  of  the  poison.  To  make  the 
research  more  perfectly  reliable,  I combined  the  action  of 
alcohol  with  that  of  cold.  A warm-blooded  animal,  insensibly 
asleep  in  the  third  stage  of  alcoholic  narcotism  was  placed  in  a 
chamber,  the  air  of  which  was  reduced  in  temperature  to  ten 
degrees  below  freezing  point,  together  with  another  similar 
animal  which  had  received  no  alcohol.  I found  that  both  sleep 
under  these  circumstances,  but  the  alcoholic  sleeps  to  die  ; the 
other  sleeps  more  deeply  than  is  natural,  and  lives  so  long  as 
the  store  of  food  it  is  charged  with  continues  to  support  life. 
Within  this  bound  it  awakes,  in  a warmer  air,  uninjured  though 
the  degree  of  cold  be  carried  even  lower  and  be  continued  for 
a much  longer  time. 

" One  more  portion  of  evidence  completes  the  research  on  the 
influence  of  alcohol  on  the  animal  temperature.  As  there  is  a 
decrease  of  temperature  from  alcohol,  so  there  is  proportion- 
ately a decrease  in  the  amount  of  the  natural  products  of 
the  combustion  of  the  body.  The  quantity  of  carbonic  acid 
exhaled  by  the  breath  is  proportionately  diminished  with  the 
decline  of  the  animal  heat.  In  the  extreme  stage  of  alcoholic 
insensibility — short  of  the  actually  dangerous — the  amount  of 
carbonic  acid  exhaled  by  the  animal  and  given  off'  into  the 
chamber  I constructed  for  the  purpose  of  observation  was 
reduced  to  one  third  below  the  natural  standard.  On  the 
human  subject  in  this  stage  of  insensibility  the  quantity  of 
carbonic  acid  exhaled  has  not  been  measured,  but  in  the  earlier 


40 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


stage  of  alcoholic  derangement  of  function  the  exhaled  gas  was 
measured  with  much  care  by  a very  earnest  worker,  whose 
recent  death  we  have  also  to  deplore — Dr.  Edward  Smith. 
In  these  early  stages  Dr.  Smith  found  that  the  amount  of  car- 
bonic acid  was  reduced  in  man,  as  I have  found  it  in  the  lower 
animals,  so  that  the  fact  of  the  general  reduction  may  be  con- 
sidered as  established  beyond  disputation.  We  are  landed 
then  at  last  on  this  basis  of  knowledge.  An  agent  that  will 
burn  and  give  forth  heat  and  product  of  combustion  outside 
the  body,  and  which  is  obviously  decomposed  within  the  body, 
reduces  the  animal  temperature,  and  prevents  the  yield  of  so 
much  product  of  combustion  as  is  actually  natural  to  the 
organic  life. 

" What  is  the  inference  ? The  inference  is  that  the  alcohol  is 
not  burned  after  the  manner  of  a food  which  supports  animal 
combustion,  but  that  it  is  decomposed  into  secondary  prod- 
ucts, by  oxidation,  at  the  expense  of  the  oxygen  which  ought 
to  be  applied  for  the  natural  heating  of  the  body. 

"For  some  time  to  come  the  physiological  world  will  be  stu- 
diously intent  on  the  discovery  of  the  mode  by  which  alcohol 
is  removed  from  the  organism.  It  is  a subject  on  which  I one 
day  shall  be  able  to  speak,  I hope,  with  some  degree  of  exper- 
imental certainty,  but  on  which  at  this  moment  I am  not  pre- 
pared to  offer  more  than  an  indication  of  the  probable  course 
of  research.  I nmy  venture  to  add  in  advance  two  or  three 
suggestions  to  which  my  researches,  so  far  as  they  go,  point. 

"Firstly,  I believe  there  is  a certain  determinable  degree  of 
saturation  of  the  blood  with  alcohol,  within  which  degree  all 
the  alcohol  is  disposed  of  by  its  decomposition.  Beyond  that 
degree  the  oxidation  is  arrested,  and  then  there  is  an  accumu- 
lation of  alcohol,  with  voidance  of  it,  in  the  unchanged  state 
in  the  secretions. 

" Secondly,  the  change  or  decomposition  of  the  alcohol  in  its 
course  through  the  minute  circulation,  in  which  it  is  trans- 
formed,  is  not  into  carbonic  acid  and  water,  as  though  it  were 
burned,  but  into  a new  soluble,  chemical  substance,  probably 
aldehyde,  which  returns  by  the  veins  into  the  great  channels 
of  the  circulation. 

"Thirdly,  I think  I have  made  out  that  there  is  an  outlet  for 
the  alcohol,  or  for  the  lluid  product  of  its  decomposition,  into 


DR.  RICHARDSON’S  FINDINGS. 


41 


the  alimentary  canal , through  the  secretion  of  the  liver.  Thrown 
into  the  canal,  it  is,  I believe,  subjected  there  to  further  oxi- 
dation, is  in  fact  oxidized  by  a process  of  fermentation  attended 
with  the  active  development  of  gaseous  substances.  From 
this  surface  the  oxidized  product  is  in  turn  re-absorbed  in  great 
part  and  carried  into  the  circulation,  and  is  disposed  of  by 
combination  with  bases  or  by  further  oxidation. 

"Here,  however,  I leave  the  theoretical  point  to  revert  to 
the  practical,  and  the  practical  is  this  : that  alcohol  cannot  by 
any  ingenuity  of  excuse  for  it  be  classified  amongst  the  foods 
of  man.  It  neither  supplies  matter  for  construction  nor  heat. 
On  the  contrary,  it  injures  construction  and  it  reduces  tem- 
perature.” 

It  must  follow  that,  if  alcohol  be  not  a food  at  all,  there 
is  no  occasion  for  its  consumption  as  a drink  until  harmless 
beverages  are  exhausted  ; and,  if  that  consumption  be  attended 
with  great  evils,  there  can  be  no  excuse  to  society  for  permit- 
ting the  traffic  in  spirits  as  a beverage. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


.ALCOHOL  AGAINST  THE  BODY. 


Dr.  Richardson’s  Investigations  Continued — Experiments  with  a Frog — 
Alcohol  as  a Regular  Stimulant  a Delusion — How  Light  Drinkers  are 
Affected — Effect  on  the  Heart  and  other  Organs — How  Disease  is  Orig- 
inated— When  the  Memory  becomes  a Victim  of  the  Habit — Gradual 
Steps  of  Physical  Degeneration  through  Use  of  Liquor. 

HERE  are  several  other  important  questions  arising  upon 


which  I will  now  cite  the  conclusions  of  Dr.  Richardson, 


based  largely  upon  his  own  labors  and  experiments,  assisted 
by  his  profound  and  universal  knowledge  of  all  that  had  been 
done  and  ascertained  by  other  investigators  in  the  same  field 
of  inquiry. 

In  considering  the  importance  of  experiments  upon  animals 
it  should  be  known  that  it  is  considered  as  demonstrated, 
that  alcohol  has  the  same  effect  upon  the  inferior  warm-blooded 
animals  as  upon  man,  except,  of  course,  that  higher  nature 
which  belongs  only  to  him.  In  his  Cantor  Lectures,  p.  118, 
Dr.  Richardson  says  : 

“ There  is  nothing  in  what  we  see  relating  to  the  action  of  alcohol 
in  man  that  would  lead  us  to  suppose  it  capable  of  giving  an  increased 
muscular  power,  and  it  is  certain  that  animals  subjected  even  for 
short  periods  of  time  to  its  influence  lose  their  power  for  work  in  a 
marked  degree.  Indeed,  if  we  were  to  treat  our  domestic  animals 
with  this  agent  in  the  same  manner  that  we  treat  ourselves,  we 
should  soon  have  none  that  were  tamable,  none  that  were  workable, 
and  none  that  were  edible.  I thought  it,  nevertheless,  worth  the 
inquiry  whether  at  any  stage  of  the  alcoholic  excitement  living 
muscle  could  be  induced  to  show  an  extra  amount  of  power.  I 
therefore  submitted  muscle  to  this  test : I gently  weighted  the 
hinder  limb  of  a frog  until  the  power  of  contraction  was  just  over- 
come, then  by  a measured  electrical  current  I stimulated  the  muscle 
to  extra  contraction,  and  determined  the  increase  of  weight  that 
could  thus  be  lifted.  This  decided  upon  in  the  healthy  animal,  the 
trial  was  repeated  some  days  later  on  the  same  animal  after  it  had 
received  alcohol  in  sufficient  quantities  to  induce  the  various  stages 


42 


A FROG  IN  THE  CASE. 


43 


of  alcoholic  modification  of  function.  The  result  was  that  through 

O 

'every  stage  the  response  to  the  electrical  current  was  enfeebled,  and, 
as  soon  as  narcotism  was  developed  by  the  spirit,  it  was  so  enfeebled 
that  less  than  half  the  weight  that  could  be  lifted  in  the  previous 
trial,  by  the  natural  effort  of  the  animal,  could  not  now  be  raised 
even  under  the  electrical  excitement. 

“ In  man  and  animals,  during  the  period  between  the  first  and 
third  stages  of  alcoholic  disturbance,  there  is  often  muscular  excite- 
ment, which  passes  for  increased  muscular  power.  The  muscles  are 
then  truly  more  rapidly  stimulated  into  motion  by  the  nervous 
tumult,  but  the  muscular  power  is  actually  enfeebled. 

“ I am  bound  to  intimate  that  the  popular  plan  of  administering 
alcohol  for  the  purpose  of  sustaining  the  animal  warmth  is  an  entire 
and  dangerous  error,  and  that  when  it  is  brought  into  practice  during 
extremely  cold  weather  it  is  calculated  to  lead  even  to  fatal  conse- 
quences, from  the  readiness  with  which  it  permits  the  blood  to 
become  congested  in  the  vital  organs.  Whenever  we  see  a person 
disposed  to  meet  the  effects  of  cold  by  strong  drink  it  is  our  duty 
to  endeavor  to  check  that  effort,  and  whenever  we  see  an  unfortu- 
nate person  under  the  influence  of  alcohol  it  is  our  duty  to  suggest 
warmth  as  the  best  means  for  his  recovery. 

“ Once  more  : I would  earnestly  impress  that  the  systematic  ad- 
ministration of  alcohol  for  the  purpose  of  giving  and  sustaining 
strength  is  an  entire  delusion.  I am  not  going  to  say  that  occa- 
sions do  not  arise  when  an  enfeebled  or  fainting  heart  is  temporarily 
relieved  by  the  relaxation  of  the  vessels  which  alcohol,  on  its  diffu- 
sion through  the  blood,  induces  ; but  that  this  spirit  gives  any  per- 
sistent increase  of  power,  by  which  men  are  enabled  to  perform 
more  sustained  work,  is  a mistake  as  serious  as  it  is  universal. 

“Again,  the  belief  that  alcohol  may  be  used  with  advantage  to 
fatten  the  body  is,  when  it  is  acted  upon,  fraught  witii  danger. 
For  if  we  conld  successfully  fatten  the  body  we  should  but  destroy 
it  the  more  swiftly  and  surely  ; and  as  the  fattening  which  follows 
the  use  of  alcohol  is  not  confined  to  the  external  development  of  fat, 
but  extends  to  a degeneration  through  the  minute  structures  of  the 
vital  organs,  including  the  heart  itself,  the  danger  is  painfully 
apparent. 

“ In  conclusion,  whatever  good  can  come  from  alcohol,  or  what- 
ever evil,  is  all  included  in  that  primary  physiological  and  luxurious 
action  of  the  agent  upon  the  nervous  supply  of  the  circulation  to 
which  I have  endeavored  so  earnestly  to  direct  your  attention.  If 
it  be  really  a luxury  for  the  heart  to  be  lifted  up  by  alcohol,  for  the 
blood  to  course  more  swiftly  through  the  brain,  for  the  thoughts  to 
flow  more  vehemently,  for  words  to  come  more  fluently,  for  emotions 


44 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


to  rise  ecstatically  and  for  life  to  rush  on  beyond  the  pace  set  by 
nature,  then  those  who  enjoy  the  luxury  must  enjoy  it — with  the 
consequences.” 

Having  given  great  but  deserved  prominence  to  the  investi- 
gations of  Dr.  Richardson  and  to  his  conclusions,  which  are 
adverse  to  alcohol  as  the  source  of  any  good  to  the  human  sys- 
tem in  health,  I will  cite  his  testimony  in  regard  to  the  injury 
and  destruction  it  uniformly  produces,  with  comparative  brev- 
ity. It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  when  scientists  speak  of 
the  action  of  alcohol,  they  refer  to  pure  or  absolute  alcohol, 
and  that  in  whatever  drink  or  potion  alcohol  is  administered, 
whether  rum  or  whisky,  or  ales,  or  cider  or  wines,  alcohol  is 
the  one  common  element  which  makes  them  all  akin ; that  it 
exists  in  them  all  free,  not  in  chemical  combination  ; it  is  pure 
alcohol  still ; and  that  when  enough  of  the  mass  has  been 
taken  to  include  the  given  amount  of  alcohol,  the  same  alcoholic 
effect  uniformly  follows.  But  for  this  circumstance,  the  water 
and  adulterations  with  which  it  is  administered,  would  have 
few  charms  for  the  consumer. 

Dr.  Richardson  in  his  fifth  lecture  first  speaks  of  the  addi- 
tion of  foreign  substances  to  alcohol  and  the  water,  with  which 
it  is,  of  course,  always  found  as  a commodity  in  the  market. 

He  says  : "Something  less  of  evil  than  now  obtains  would 
be  secured  if  none  but  natural  wines  and  ales  were  taken  by 
the  people.  A bona  fide  wine  derived  from  the  fermentation 
of  the  grape  purely  cannot  contain  more  than  17  per  cent,  of 
alcohol,  yet  our  staple  wines,  by  an  artificial  process  of  forti- 
fying and  brandying,  which  means  the  adding  of  spirit,  are 
brought  up  in  sherries  to  twenty,  and  in  ports  to  even  twenty- 
five,  per  cent.  Some  wines  and  spirits  are  believed  to  be 
charged  with  amylic  alcohol.  Other  wines  are  charged  with 
foreign  volatile  substances  to  impart  what  is  called  bouquet ; 
and  still  other  so-called  wines — I allude  specially  to  the  effer- 
vescing liquids  sold  under  that  name — are  actually  often  under- 
going the  fermenting  process  at  the  time  they  are  imbibed, 
and  thus  are  invited  to  complete  their  fermentation  in  that 
sensitive  bottle,  the  human  stomach.” 

Of  absinthe,  a common  agent  of  adulteration  increasing  in 
use,  he  says  : "The  intentional  additions  of  poisonous  agents 


Dr.  Daniel  Dorchester , 

Author  of  ‘‘  The  Liquor  Problem 


HOW  DISEASE  ORIGINATES. 


45 


to  the  alcohol  of  ales,  wines  and  spirits,  pale  when  absinthe 
appears  in  sight,  but  they  are  not  to  lie  ignored.” 

But  on  the  whole  he  appears,  like  many  other  observers,  to 
be  of  the  opinion  that  it  is  difficult  to  adulterate  or  mix  alco- 
holic drinks,  whether  fermented  or  distilled,  with  anything 
which  will  make  them  worse  than  the  alcoholic  poison  itself. 
Resuming  now  the  main  subject,  he  says:  "A  minority  of 
persons  who  habitually  take  alcohol  escape  with  impunity 
from  injury.” 

Some  escape  because  they  use  it  in  such  small  quantities  and 
with  such  regularity — others  take  more  freely  and  escape  be- 
cause they  are  physiologically  peculiar  and  rapidly  eliminate 
the  fluid  from  their  bodies,  1 suppose,  like  the  drinker  who 
defended  alcohol  by  saying  that  he  had  used  it  until  he  was  an 
old  man,  and  until  he  had  killed  off  three  generations  of  boon 
companions  who  in  succession  had  drank  with  him,  and  been 
buried  by  him.  Dr.  Richardson  continues  : 

"The  large  majority  of  those  who  drink  alcohol  in  any  of  its 
disguises  are  injured  by  it.  As  a cause  of  disease  it  gives  ori- 
gin to  great  populations  of  afflicted  persons,  many  of  whom 
suffer  even  to  death  without  suspecting  from  what  they  suffer, 
and  unsuspected.  Some  of  these  live  just  short  of  the  first 
stage  of  old  age ; others  to  middle  age  ; others  only  'to  ripe 
adolescence.’ 

"Continued  daily  it  induces  a new  physiological  and  alto- 
gether unnatural  condition,  in  which  the  sense  of  acquired 
necessity  enforces  desire,  until  at  last  the  spirit  is  made  to  be- 
come a positive  requirement  of  the  organic  and  mental  life. 
Every  extra  effort  must  be  preceded  by  resort  to  the  stim- 
ulant. Every  prolonged  weariness  must  be  relieved  by  the 
same  measure,  but  when  the  effect  of  the  stimulant  has  speed- 
ily subsided  there  is  left  a greater  exhaustion  than  before. 
Another  resource  to  the  artificial  aid  completes  the  exhaustion, 
and  makes  it  pass  into  dullness  and  drowsiness,  without  natural 
and  sound  sleep,  and  with  an  unbearable  sense  of  after  pros- 
tration. 

"Unfortunately,  it  is  the  rarest  of  events  that  a person  arti- 
ficially stimulated  by  alcohol  to  the  period  named,  gives  up1 
the  practice.”  But  when  the  bod}r  is  fully  developed  ; when 
the  extra  vital  capacity  which  attended  }routh  is  expended  in 


46 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


growth  and  development ; when  all  the  organs  have  assumed 
their  full  size  and  activity ; when  the  balance  of  secretion  is 
so  nicely  set  in  all  parts  that  not  one  secretion  can  be  disturbed 
without  a disturbance  of  the  whole ; when  the  spring  of  the 
elastic  tissues  is  reduced  ; when  the  lungs  cannot  fail  ever  so 
little  in  their  function  of  throwing  off  the  gaseous  products  of 
combustion  without  a vicarious  extension  of  gases  into  the  ali- 
mentary canal ; when  the  completed  organic  moving  parts  be- 
come encumbered  with  fatty  matter  interposed  between  them, 
or  laid  out  around  them,  then  the  effect  of  alcoholic  spirits  be- 
gins to  be  realized.  The  fluid  is  now  retained  longer  in  the 
living  house  ; is  decomposed  less  quickly  ; is  thrown  out  by 
primary  or  secondary  elimination  less  speedily.  Under  this 
persistent  pressure  upon  the  vessels  of  the  minute  circulation, 
their  diameters  change  in  the  course  of  time,  and  the  whole  of 
the  marvelous  web-work  of  blood-vessels,  upon  which  the 
organs  of  the  body  are  constructed,  is  deranged  in  its  mechan- 
ical distribution  over  the  whole  surface,  and  the  function  of  the 
heart  becomes  perverted  ; (p.143).  Whipped  by  the  unnatural 
master  it  develops  undue  size  and  power,  demands  its  stimulus 
more  and  more,  and  communicates  its  own  excited  condition 
to  the  whole  circulation,  and  to  all  the  organs  which  are  fed  by 
it,  so  that  the  whole  system  appreciates  " with  abnormal  sen- 
sitiveness the  whip  of  the  stimulus  and  the  languor  when  the 
whip  is  withheld.”  "The  heart  not  only  becomes  enlarged, 
but  its  various  valvular  and  other  mechanical  parts  subjected 
to  prolonged  strain  are  thrown  out  of  proportion.  The  ori- 
fices in  it,  through  which  the  great  floods  of  blood  issue  in 
their  courses,  are  dilated.  The  exquisite  valves  become 
stretched  and  prevented  from  assuming  their  refined  adapta- 
tions. The  minute  filamentous  cords  which  hold  the  valves  in 
due  position  and  tension  are  elongated,  and  the  walls  of  the 
ventricles  or  forcing  chambers  are  thickened,  or,  as  we  say, 
technically,  are  hypertrophied.  Throughout  the  whole  of  its 
structures  the  central  throbbing  organ  is  modified  both  in  its 
mechanism  and  in  its  action.” 

“ But  such  central  modification  cannot  possibly  go  on  long 
without  the  institution  of  other  changes  at  the  opposite  ex- 
tremity or  circumference  of  the  circuit  of  the  blood.  At  one 
moment  the  vital  organs  feel  the  pressure  of  the  too  powerful 


EFFECTS  ON  TIIE  ORGANS. 


47 


stroke  of  blood ; at  another  moment  they  are  suddenly  aware 
of  an  enfeebled  stroke.  The  brain  is,  for  the  instant,  conscious 
of  a flicker  of  power ; it  is  like  the  faintest  flicker  of  gas, 
which  is  observed  when,  by  an  accident,  the  pressure  is  dis- 
turbed at  the  main,  but  it  is  there,  and  the  person  who 
experiences  it  is  cognizant  ot  its  central  origin,  bo  matters 
progress  often  for  months,  or  for  years,  without  further  evi- 
dence of  subjective  or  objective  sign  of  increasing  evil.  The 
worst  evidence  that  exists  is,  probably,  the  necessity  tor  a 
more  frequent  repetition  of  the  stimulus  under  additional  stress 
of  work  or  excitement.  While  these  changes  in  the  simple 
mechanism  of  the  circulation  are  in  a course  of  advancement 
there  are  also  in  development  certain  other  changes  which  are 
much  more  delicate  and  minute,  yet  not  less  important. 
These  consist  of  direct  deteriorations  of  structure  ot  the  or- 
ganic tissues  themselves.” 

Discussing  now  the  effect  of  alcohol  upon  the  structures  of 
the  body  Dr.  Richardson  proceeds : " The  parts  which  first 
sutler  most  from  alcohol  are  those  expansions  in  the  animal 
body  which  the  anatomists  call  the  membranes.  The  mem- 
branes are  colloidal  structures,  and  every  organ  is  enveloped 
in  them.  The  skin  is  a membranous  envelope.  Through  the 
whole  of  the  alimentary  surface,  from  the  lips  downwards,  and 
through  the  bronchial  passages  to  their  minute  ramifications, 
extends  the  mucous  membrane.  The  lungs,  the  heart,  the  liver, 
the  kidneys  are  folded  in  delicate  membranes  which  can  be 
stripped  easily  from  these  parts.  If  you  take  a portion  of  bone, 
you  will  find  it  easy  to  strip  off  from  it  a membranous  sheath  or 
covering ; if  you  open  and  examine  a joint  you  will  find  both 
the  head  and  the  socket  lined  with  membrane.  The  whole  of 
the  intestines  are  enveloped  in  a fine  membrane  called  peri- 
toneum. All  the  muscles  are  enveloped  in  membranes,  and 
the  fasciculi  or  bundles  and  fibers  of  muscles  have  their  mem- 
branous sheathing.  The  brain  and  spinal  cord  are  enveloped 
in  three  membranes,  one  nearest  to  themselves,  a pure  vascular 
structure,  a net-work  of  blood-vessels  ; another,  a thin,  serous 
structure  ; a third,  a strong,  fibrous  structure.  The  eyeball 
is  a structure  of  colloidal  humors  and  membranes,  and  of 
nothing  else.  To  complete  the  description,  the  minute  struct- 
ures of  the  vital  organs  are  enrolled  in  membranous  matter. 


48 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


' The  membranes  are  the  filters  of  the  body.  In  their  ab- 
sence there  could  be  no  building  of  structure,  no  solidification 
of  tissue,  no  organic  mechanism.  Passive  themselves,  they 
nevertheless  separate  all  structures  into  their  respective  posi- 
tions and  adaptations.” 

" See  then  what  an  all-important  part  these  membranous 
structures  play  in  the  animal  life.  Upon  their  integrity  all 
the  silent  work  of  the  building  up  of  the  body  depends.  If 
these  membranes  are  rendered  too  porous,  and  let  out  the  col- 
loidal fluids  of  the  blood — the  albumen  for  example — the  body 
so  circumstanced  dies — dies  as  if  it  were  slowly  bled  to  death. 
If,  on  the  contrary,  the}'  become  condensed  or  thickened,  or 
loaded  with  foreign  material,  then  they  fail  to  allow  the  natural 
fluids  to  pass  through  them.  They  fail  to  dialyse,  and  the 
result  is  either  an  accumulation  of  the  fluid  in  a closed  cavity, 
or  contraction  of  the  substance  inclosed  within  the  membranes, 
or  dryness  of  membrane  in  surfaces  that  ought  to  be  freely 
lubricated  and  kept  apart.  In  old  age  we  see  the  effects  of 
modification  of  membrane  naturally  induced ; we  see  the  fixed 
joint,  the  shrunken  and  feeble  muscle,  the  dimmed  eye,  the 
deaf  ear,  the  enfeebled  nervous  function. 

"Upon  all  these  membranous  structures  alcohol  exerts  a 
direct  perversion  of  action.  It  produces  in  them  a thickening, 
a shrinking  and  an  inactivity  that  reduces  the  functional  power. 
That  they  may  work  rapidly  and  equally  they  require  to  be  at 
all  times  charged  with  water  to  saturation.  If  into  contact 
with  them  any  agent  is  brought  that  deprives  them  of  water, 
then  is  their  work  interfered  with  ; they  cease  to  separate  the 
saline  constituents  properly,  and.  if  the  evil  that  is  thus  started 
be  allowed  to  continue,  they  contract  upon  their  contained 
matter  in  whatever  organ  it  may  be  situated,  and  condense  it.” 

"The  ultimate  changes  that  follow  the  use  of  alcohol  by  those 
who  indulge  in  it,  in  what  is  too  often  considered  a temperate 
degree,  are  actual  local  changes  within  one  or  the  other  of  the 

vital  organs An  extreme  emotional  derangement  is 

often  produced.  The  afflicted  man — and  I fear  I must  say 
woman  also,  for  women  are  sometimes  afflicted — the  afflicted 
man  under  this  primary  prolonged  influence  of  alcohol  becomes 
nervous  and  excitable,  ready  at  any  moment  to  cry  or  laugh, 
without  valid  reasons  for  either  act.  The  emotional  centers 


LIGHT  DRINKERS. 


49 


are  alternately  raised  and  depressed  in  function  by  the  poison, 
hut  after  a time  the  depression  overcomes  the  exhilaration,  and 
the  impulse  is  to  a maudlin  sentimentality  extending  even  to 
tears.  The  slightest  anxieties  are  then  exaggerated,  and  there 
is  experienced  at  the  same  time  an  indecision  and  deficiency 
of  self-confidence  which  is  doubly  perplexing.  When  an  act 
is  done,  when  a letter,  for  instance,  or  other  piece  of  business 
has  been  finished  and  despatched,  an  uneasy  feeling  of  distrust 
is  felt  that  perhaps  some  mistake  has  been  made,  which  dis- 
trust passes  rapidly  into  a sentiment  that  the  thing  cannot  be 
helped  ; it  is  bad  luck,  but  it  must  take  its  chance.  In  various 
other  directions  this  distrust  shows  itself,  and  the  worst  of  all 
is  that  the  very  doubt  prompts  the  desire  for  another  applica- 
tion for  relief  to  the  evil  that  is  the  cause  of  this  burthen.  A 
small  dram  more  of  the  stimulant,  not  an  overpowering  draught 
that  will  cause  quick  and  sure  insensibility,  but  just  a mouth- 
ful ; that  is  the  assumed  remedy,  and  that  is  the  certain 
promoter  of  the  sorrow. 

" We  know  now,  as  surely  as  if  we  could  see  within  the 
body,  what  is  the  condition  of  the  organs  of  the  person  afflicted 
in  the  manner  thus  defined.  We  are  conscious  that  the  ves- 
sels of  the  brain,  of  the  lungs,  of  the  liver,  of  the  kidneys,  of 
the  stomach  are  paralyzed,  and  are  injected  to  full  distention 
with  blood.  Some  of  these  parts  have  actually  been  seen 
under  this  state,  and  the  fact  of  the  rejected  condition  directly 
demonstrated.” 

" Of  all  the  systems  of  the  organs  that  suffer  under  this  sus- 
tained excitement  and  paralysis,  two  are  injured  most  deter- 
minately — viz.,  the  digestive  and  the  nervous.  The  stomach, 
unable  to  produce  in  proper  quantity  the  natural  digestive 
fluid,  and  also  unable  to  absorb  the  food  which  it  may  imper- 
fectly digest,  is  in  constant  anxiety  and  irritation.  It  is 
oppressed  with  the  sense  of  nausea  ; it  is  oppressed  with  the 
sense  of  emptiness  and  prostration ; it  is  oppressed  with  a 
sense  of  distention  ; it  is  oppressed  with  a loathing  for  food, 
and  it  is  teased  with  a craving  for  more  drink.  Thus  there  is 
engendered  a permanent  disorder  which,  for  politeness’  sake 
is  called  dyspepsia,  and  for  which  different  remedies  are  often 
sought,  but  never  found.  Antibilious  pills — whatever  they  may 
mean — Seidlitz  powders,  effervescing  waters  and  all  that  phar- 
4 


50 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


macopoeia  of  aids  to  further  indigestion,  in  which  the  afflicted 
who  nurse  their  own  diseases,  so  liberally  and  innocently  in- 
dulge, are  tried  in  vain.  I do  not  strain  a syllable  when  I 
state  that  the  worst  forms  of  confirmed  indigestion  originate  in 
the  practice  that  is  here  explained.  By  this  practice  all  the 
functions  are  vitiated,  the  skin  at  one  moment  is  flushed  and 
perspiring,  at  the  next  is  pale,  cold  and  clammy,  and  every 
other  secreting  structure  is  equally  disarranged. 

"The  nervous  structures  follow,  or  it  may  be  precede,  the 
stomach  in  the  order  of  derangement. 

"The  perverted  condition  of  the  membranous  covering  of 
the  nerves  gives  rise  to  pressure  within  the  sheath  of  the 
nerve,  and  to  pain  as  a consequence.  To  the  pain  thus  excited 
the  term  neuraliga  is  commonly  applied ; or  tic ; or,  if  the 
large  nerve  running  down  the  thigh  to  the  seat  of  the  pain, 
'sciatica.’  Sometimes  this  pain  is  developed  as  a toothache. 
It  is  a pain  commencing  in  nearly  every  instance  at  some  point 
where  a nerve  is  inclosed  in  a bony  cavity,  or  where  a pressure 
is  easily  excited,  as  at  the  lower  jaw-bone  near  the  center  of 
the  chin,  or  at  the  opening  in  front  of  the  lower  part  of  the 
ear,  or  at  the  opening  over  the  eyeball  in  the  frontal  bone.” 

Then  follows  alcoholic  insomnia,  or  sleeplessness — inability 
for  natural  sleep.  "Connected  with  this  sleep  there  is  engen- 
dered in  some  persons  a form  of  true  epilepsy  which  all  the 
skill  of  physic  is  hopeless  to  cure  until  the  cause  is  revealed 
and  removed."  The  doctor  says:  " The  continuance  of  the 
effects  of  alcohol  into  a more  advanced  stage  leads  to  direct 
disorganization  of  vital  structures.  TTken  once  this  stage  has 
been  reached  not  one  organ  of  the  body  escapes  the  ravage. 

In  the  blood  the  influence  is  exerted  upon  the  plastic 

fibrine  and  upon  the  corpuscles  : in  the  brain,  on  the  mem- 
branes at  first,  and  afterwards  on  the  nervous  matter  they 
enclose  ; in  the  lungs,  on  the  elastic,  spongy,  connective  tis- 
sue, which  is,  strictly  speaking,  also  membranous  ; in  the  heart, 
on  its  muscular  elements  and  membranes  : in  the  liver,  prima- 
rily on  its  membranes  ; in  the  kidneys,  on  their  connective  tis- 
sues and  membranes.” 

"The  organ  of  the  body  that  perhaps  the  most  frequently 
undergoes  structural  changes  from  alcohol  is  the  liver.  The 
capacity  of  this  organ  for  holding  active  substance  in  its  cel- 


HOW  THE  LIVER  IS  AFFECTED. 


51 


lular  parts  is  one  of  its  marked  physiological  distinctions.  In 
instances  of  poisoning  by  arsenic,  antimony,  strychnine,  and 
other  poisonous  compounds,  we  turn  to  the  liver,  in  conduct- 
ing our  analyses,  as  if  it  were  the  central  depot  of  the  foreign 
matter.  It  is  practically  the  same  in  respect  of  alcohol.  The 
liver  of  the  confirmed  alcoholic  is  probably  never  free  from  the 
influence  of  the  poison  ; it  is  too  often  saturated  with  it.  The 
organ  at  first  becomes  large  from  the  distention  of  its  vessels, 
the  surcharge  of  fluid  matter  and  the  thickening  of  tissue. 
After  a time  there  follow  contraction  of  membrane  and  slow 
shrinking  of  the  whole  mass  of  the  organ  in  its  cellular  parts. 
Then  the  shrunken,  hardened,  roughened  mass  is  said  to  be 
'hobnailed,’ a common  but  expressive  term.  By  the  time  this 
change  occurs  the  body  of  him  in  whom  it  is  developed  is 
usually  dropsical  in  its  lower  parts,  owing  to  the  obstruction 
offered  to  the  returning  blood  by  the  veins,  and  his  fate  is 
sealed.” 

"I  touch  with  the  lightest  hand  upon  these  deteriorations, 
and  I omit  many  others.  My  object  is  gained  if  I but  impress 
you  with  the  serious  nature  of  the  changes  that,  in  this  one 
organ  alone,  follow  an  excessive  use  of  alcohol.” 

"The  kidney,  in  like  manner  with  the  liver,  suffers  deteriora- 
tion of  structure  from  the  continued  influence  of  alcoholic  spirit. 
Its  minute  structure  undergoes  fatty  modifications  ; its  vessels 
lose  their  due  elasticity  and  power  of  contraction  ; or  its  mem- 
branes permit  to  pass  through  them  that  colloidal  part  of  the 
blood  which  is  known  as  albumen.  This  last  condition  reached, 
the  body  loses  power  as  if  it  were  being  gradually  drained 
even  of  its  blood.  For  this  colloidal  albumen  is  the  primitively 
dissolved  fluid  out  of  which  all  the  other  tissues  are  by  dialyt- 
ical  process  to  he  elaborated.  In  its  natural  destination  it  has 
to  pass  into  and  constitute  every  colloidal  part.” 

"The  lungs  do  not  escape  the  evil  influence  that  follows  the 
persistent  use  of  alcohol.  They  indeed  probably  suffer  more 
than  we  at  present  know  from  the  acute  evils  imposed  by  this 
agent.  The  vessels  of  the  lungs  are  easily  relaxed  by  alcohol ; 
and  as  they  of  all  parts  are  most  exposed  to  vicissitudes  of 
heat  and  cold  they  are  readily  congested  when,  paralyzed  by 
the  spirit,  they  are  subjected  to  the  effects  of  a sudden  fall  of 
atmospheric  temperature.  Thus  the  suddenly  fatal  conges- 


52 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


tions  of  lungs  which  so  easily  befall  the  confirmed  alcoholic 
during  severe  winter  seasons.” 

Drunkards  have  also  a form  of  consumption  all  their  own, 
which  attacks  those  who  have  the  strongest  constitutions  and 
who  have  withstood  almost  every  other  disease  and  shock. 
T'The  origin  of  this  series  of  changes  from  alcohol  is  again  from 
the  membranes.  The  course  of  it  is  through  the  membranous 
tissues.  The  vessels  give  way  after  a severe  congestive  con- 
dition, and  blood  is  exuded  or  extravasated  into  the  lung. 
These  conditions  lead  to  the  destruction  of  the  substance  of  the 
pulmonary  organs,  upon  which,  and  upon  the  organic  changes 
that  follow  such  destruction,  the  acute  symptoms  of  the  mal- 
ady under  consideration  become  quickly  and  fatally  pro- 
nounced.” 

"The  membranous  structures  which  envelope  and  line  the 
heart  are  changed  in  quality,  are  thickened,  rendered  cartilag- 
inous and  even  calcareous  or  bony.  Then  the  valves,  which 
are  made  up  of  folds  of  membrane,  lose  their  suppleness,  and 
what  is  called  valvular  disease  is  permanently  established. 
The  coats  of  the  great  blood-vessel  leading  from  the  heart, 
the  aorta,  share,  not  unfrequently,  in  the  same  changes  of 
structure,  so  that  the  vessel  loses  its  elasticity  and  its  power 
to  feed  the  heart  by  the  recoil  from  its  distention  after  the 
heart  by  its  stroke  has  filled  it  with  blood.” 

"Again  the  muscular  structure  of  the  heart  fails,  owing  to 
degenerative  changes  in  its  tissue.  The  elements  of  the  muscu- 
lar fibre  are  replaced  by  fatty  cells  ; or  if  not  so  replaced  are 
themselves  transferred  into  a modified  muscular  texture  in 
which  the  power  of  contraction  is  greatly  reduced  ....  The 
jaded,  overworked,  faithful  heart  will  bear  no  more;  it  has 
run  its  course,  and  the  governor  of  the  blood  stream  broken, 
the  current  either  overflows  into  the  tissues,  gradually  dam- 
ming up  the  courses,  or  under  some  slight  shock  or  excess  of 
motion  ceases  at  the  center.” 

The  eye  also  is  oftentimes  greatly  injured  and  soon  de- 
stroyed ; "and  lastly  the  brain  and  spinal  cord  and  all  the  nerv- 
ous matter  become,  under  the  influence  of  alcohol,  subject, 
like  other  parts,  to  organic  deterioration.  The  membranes 
enveloping  the  nervous  substance  undergo  thickening ; the 
blood-vessels  are  subjected  to  change  of  structure,  by  which 


AVHEN  THE  MEMORY  IS  A VICTIM. 


53 


their  resistance  and  resiliency  is  impaired  ; and  the  true  nerv- 
ous matter  is  sometimes  modified  by  softening  or  shrinking  of 
its  texture,  by  degeneration  of  its  cellular  structure,  or  by 
interposition  of  fatty  particles.” 

"These  deteriorations  of  cerebral  and  spinal  matter  give  rise 
to  a series  of  derangements,  which  show  themselves  in  the 
worst  forms  of  nervous  disease — epilepsy  ; paralysis,  local  or 
general ; insanity.”  .... 

"One  of  the  first  effects  of  alcohol  upon  the  nervous  system 
in  the  way  of  alienation  from  the  natural  mental  state  is  shown 
in  loss  of  memory.  This  extends  even  to  forgetfulness  of  the 
commonest  of  things  ; to  names  of  familiar  persons  ; to  dates  ; to 
duties  of  daily  life.  Strangely,  too,  this  failure,  like  that  which 
indicates  in  the  aged  the  era  of  second  childishness  and  mere 
oblivion,  does  not  extend  to  things  of  the  past,  but  is  confined 
to  events  that  are  passing.  On  old  memories  the  mind  retains 
its  power  ; on  new  ones  it  requires  prompting  and  sustainment. 
....  The  failure  of  speech  indicates  the  descent  still  deeper 
to  that  condition  of  general  paralysis  in  which  all  the  higher 
faculties  of  mind  and  will  are  powerless,  and  in  which  nothing 
remains  to  show  the  continuance  of  life  except  the  parts  that 
remain  under  the  dominion  of  the  chain  of  organic  or  ve<ieta- 
ble  nervous  matter.  Our  asylums  for  the  insane  are  charged 
with  these  helpless  specimens  of  humanity.” 

"A  second  effect  of  alcohol  on  the  mental  organization  is  the 
production  of  that  craving  for  its  incessant  supply  to  which  we 
give  the  name  of  dipsomania.  It  is  those  who  are  affected  with 
this  form  of  alcoholic  disease  a mixed  madness  and  insanity 
is  established,  in  which  the  cunning  of  the  mind  alone  lives 
actively  with  the  vices  that  ally  themselves  to  it.  The  arrest 
of  nervous  function  is  partial  and  does  not  extend  to  the  motor 
centers  so  determinately  as  to  those  of  the  higher  reasoning 
faculties.  But  the  end,  though  it  may  be  slow,  is  certain,  and 
the  end  is,  as  a rule,  that  general  paralysis  which  I have  just 
described.  The  dipsomaniac  is,  however,  capable  of  recovery 
within  certain  limits  on  one  and  only  one  condition,  that  the 
cause  of  his  disease  be  totally  withheld.” 

" The  effect  of  alcohol  on  the  mental  functions  is  shown  in  yet 
another  picture  of  humanity  writhing  under  its  use.  I mean  in 
the  form  of  what  may  be  called  intermittent  indulgence  to  dan- 


54 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


gerous  excess.  This  form  of  disease  has  been  named  the  mania 
a polu,  and  is  one  of  the  most  desperate  of  the  alcoholic  evils. 
The  victims  of  this  class  are  not  habitual  drunkards  or  topers, 
but  at  sudden  intervals  they  madden  themselves  with  the  spirit ; 
they  repent ; reform  ; get  a new  lease  of  life  : relapse.  In  inter- 
vals of  repentance  they  are  worn  with  remorse  and  regret ; in 
the  intervals  of  madness  they  are  the  terrible  members  of  the 
community.  In  their  furious  excitement  they  spread  around 
their  circle  the  darkness  of  desolation,  fear  and  despair. 
Their  very  footsteps  carry  dread  to  those  who,  most  helpless 
and  innocent,  arc  under  their  fearful  control.  They  strike 
their  dearest  friends ; they  strike  themselves.  Retaining 
sufficient  nervous  power  to  wield  their  limbs,  yet  not  suffi- 
cient to  guide  their  reason,  they  become  the  dangerous  alco- 
holic criminals  whom  our  legislators,  fearing  to  touch  the 
cause  of  their  malady,  would  fain  try  to  cure  by  scourge  and 
chain. 

"To  us  physiologists  these  "maniacs  apotu ” are  men  under 
the  experiment  of  alcohol,  with  certain  of  their  brain  centers 
(which  I coidd  fairly  define  if  the  present  occasion  were  befit- 
ting) paralyzed,  and  with  a broken  balance,  therefore,  of  brain 
power,  'which  we  with  infinite  labor  and  much  exactitude  have 
learned  to  understand.  Our  remedy  for  such  aberration  of 
nervous  function,  if  we  were  legislators,  would  be  simple 
enough.  We  should  not  whip  the  maniac  back  again  to  the 
drink  : we  should  try  to  break  up  the  evil  by  taking  the  drink 
from  the  maniac.  But  then  we  are  only  physiologists.  We 
have  nothing  to  do  with  that  £117,000,000  of  invested  capital, 
and  we  are  not  practical  in  reference  to  it.” 

"The -most  solemn  fact  of  all  bearing  upon  these  mental 
aberrations  produced  by  alcohol,  and  upon  the  physical  not 
less  than  the  mental,  is  that  Ihe  mischief  on  man  by  his  own 
act  and  deed  cannot  fail  to  be  transferred  to  those  who  descend 
from  him  and  who  are  thus  irresponsibly  afflicted.  Amongst 
the  many  inscrutable  designs  of  nature  none  is  more  manifest 
than  this,  that  physical  vice,  like  physical  feature  and  physical 
virtue,  descends  in  line.  It  is,  I say,  a solemn  reflection,  for 
every  man  and  every  woman,  that  whatever  we  do  to  our- 
selves so  as  to  modify  our  own  physical  conformation  and 
mental  type,  for  good  or  for  evil,  is  transmitted  to  genera- 


DR.  RICHARDSON’S  VERDICT. 


55 


tions-that  have  yet  to  be.  Not.  one  of  the  transmitted  wrongs, 
physical  or  mental,  is  more  certainly  passed  on  to  those  yet 
unborn  than  the  wrongs  which  are  inflicted  by  alcohol.  We, 
therefore,  who  live  to  reform  the  present  age  in  this  respect 
are  stretching  our  powers  to  the  next  to  purify  it ; to  beau- 
tify, and  to  lead  it  toward  that  millennial  happiness  and 
blessedness,  which  in  the  fullness  of  time  shall  visit  even  the 
earth,  making  it  under  an  increasing  light  of  knowledge  a 
garden  of  human  delight,  a Paradise  regained.” 

" In  summary  of  what  has  past,  I may  be  briefness  it- 
self,” says  Dr.  Richardson.  " The  chemical  substance  alco- 
hol— an  artificial  product  devised  by  man  for  his  purpose,  and 
in  many  things  that  lie  outside  his  organism  a useful  sub- 
stance— is  neither  a food  nor  a drink  suitable  for  his  natural 
demands.  Its  application  as  an  agent  that  shall  enter  the  liv- 
ing organization  is  properly  limited  by  the  learning  and  skill 
possessed  by  the  physician — a learning  that  itself  admits  of 
being  recast  and  revised  in  many  important  details  and  perhaps 
in  principles. 

"If  this  agent  do  really  for  the  moment  cheer  the  weary 
and  impart  a flush  of  transient  pleasure  to  the  unwearied  who 
crave  for  mirth,  its  influence  (doubtful  even  in  these  modest 
and  moderate  degrees)  is  an  infinitesimal  advantage,  by  the  side 
of  an  infinity  of  evil  for  which  there  is  no  compensation  and 
no  human  cure.” 


CHAPTER  Y. 


SCIENTIFIC  INVESTIGATIONS. 


When  Liebig’s  Theory  was  Supreme — Alcohol  in  the  Brain  of  a Dead 
Debauchee — The  Alcoholic  Alphabet — How  the  Liquor  gets  out  of  the 
Body — Is  it  Poison,  Food,  or  Medicine? — How  the  Dictionaries  define 
the  Terms — Dr.  Hammond’s  Experiments  with  a Dog. — His  List  of 
Diseases  created  by  the  use  of  Alcohol — His  Letter  to  the  Author — 
Literal  Meaning  of  the  Word  “Intoxication” — The  use  of  Poisons  for 
Medical  Purposes — The  use  of  Beer — Its  Stupefying  Effects  on  its  De- 
votees— The  Cruel  Results  which  have  followed  the  wide  use  of  Beer — 
How  Old  Appetites  have  been  awakened  and  New  Ones  created. 

RIOR  to  the  investigations  of  Lallemand,  Perrin  and 


1 Duroy,  already  briefly  considered,  which  were  very 
minute  and  extensive,  and  continued  for  several  years,  and  the 
first  account  of  which  was  published  in  I860,  the  theory  of 
Liebig,  that  alcohol  was  decomposed  and  furnished  heat  to  the 
system,  and  that  no  part  of  it  left  the  bodjr  unchanged,  but 
combining  with  oxygen  passed  out  as  carbonic  acid  and  water, 
was  generally  embraced.  He  did  not,  by  his  theory,  however, 
oppose  total  abstinence,  because  he  admitted  that  fat  was  much 
better  as  a heat  producer,  and  of  far  more  value.  His  ivse  dixit 
made,  it  is  said  upon  very  slight  investigation,  seems  to  have 
been  accepted  on  account  of  his  great  fame,  and  has  since  been 
completely  overthrown.  Just  what  is  the  method  of  action  of 
alcohol  in  the  body  is  still  in  doubt,  but  some  great  errors 
have  been  corrected,  and,  facts  which  control  the  question  as 
one  of  practical  consequence  to  society,  have  been  firmly 
established  since  Liebig’s  da}r.  It  is  not  known  that  any  ali- 
mentary substance  passes  the  system  without  change  unless 
the  organs  fail  of  their  function,  as  in  case  of  diabetes  and 
albuminaria. 

In  1831,  Dr.  James  Kirk,  of  Scotland,  found  alcohol  in  the 
brain  of  a dead  debauchee,  and  burned  it  in  a spoon.  Dr 
Ogston  examined  the  body  of  a woman  who,  being  drunk,  fell 
into  the  Aberdeen  canal  and  was  drowned,  and  with  two  of 


56 


ALCOHOLIC  ALPHABET. 


57 


his  brethren  as  witnesses  took  four  ounces  of  pure  alcohol 
from  the  ventricles.  These  statements  being  considered  re- 
markable,  and,  if  true,  being  considered  fatal  to  the  Liebig 
theory,  Dr.  Percy  instituted  a series  of  experiments  on  both 
men  and  animals,  and  proved  clearly  that  the  fluid  was  of  alco- 
holic character,  by  its  inflammability  and  its  power  to  dissolve 
camphor.  lie  proved  that  alcohol  caused  death  by  its  specific 
effect  upon  the  nerve  centers  and  not  by  coagulating  the  blood, 
as  taught  by  Orfila.  These  experiments  of  Dr.  Percy  were 
made  in  1839,  but  do  not  appear  to  have  been  very  well  known, 
or  if  known  they  failed  to  prevent  the  general  acceptance  of 
the  Liebig  theory. 

Various  other  experimenters  confirmed  the  Liebig  view  in  a 
general  way,  and  Buckheim,  a high  authority,  disproved  their 
conclusions  in  turn,  and  thus  the  question  stood  in  1860. 

These  experiments  of  Lallemand  and  his  associates  are  a 
landmark.  Dr.  Lees  has  made  the  following  translation  of 
their  results  which  he  styles  the  Alcoholic  Alphabet : 

ALCOHOLIC  ALPHABET. 

A.  Alcohol  ingested  into  the  stomach,  applied  to  the  skin,  or 
introduced  as  a vapor  into  the  lungs,  is  absorbed  into  the  veins,  and 
carried  by  the  blood  into  all  the  tissues. 

B.  The  injection  of  alcohol  produces  upon  animals  an  intoxica- 
tion that  is  marked  by  a progressive  series  of  functional  disturb- 
ances and  alterations,  the  intensity  of  which  corresponds  with  the 
quantity  of  alcohol  absorbed. 

C.  It  manifests  itself  at  first  by  a general  excitement,  but  very 
soon  the  respiration  and  circulation  are  relaxed,  and  the  tempera- 
ture lowered. 

D.  Muscular  power  is  weakened  and  extinguished  ; always  begin- 
ning at  the  extremities. 

E.  The  insensibility  gradually  extends  to  the  centers  (as  in  dead 
drunkenness) . 

F.  The  heart  is  the  last  to  die  ( iiltimum  moriens ) . 

G.  The  time  that  elapses  between  the  beginning  of  intoxication 
and  death  varies  from  forty-five  minutes  to  three  hours. 

H.  When  the  dose  is  not  sufficient  to  induce  death  the  excitability 
of  the  nervous  system  returns  after  a time,  varying  with  circum- 
stances. 

I.  The  arterial  blood  remains  bright,  and  preserves  all  its  appar- 
ent qualities,  nearly  up  to  the  moment  of  death. 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


.58 

. Alcoholized  blood  contains,  during  life  and  after  death , a great 
number  of  free,  fatty  globules , visible  to  the  naked  eye. 

K.  The  pathological  alterations  are:  vivid  inflammation  of  the 
mucous  membrane  of  the  stomach;  the  accumulation  of  the  blood  in 
the  right  chamber  of  the  heart  and  the  large  veins  ; congestion  of 
the  meninges,  and  especially  of  the  lungs. 

L.  All  solids  or  liquids  in  union  with  alcohol  are  easily  separated 
by  distillation,  proportionately  by  the  method  of  volumes. 

M.  Alcohol  taken  by  the  stomach  enters  into  the  liver,  and  the 
substance  of  the  brain  ; if  in  the  blood  it  is  represented  as  1.0  ; in 
the  brain  it  is  1.34,  in  the  liver,  1.4-8. 

N.  Diluted  alcohol  produces  the  same  effect  when  introduced  by 
injection  into  the  veins  as  when  introduced  into  the  stomach,  but 
operates  more  rapidly.  The  animal  succumbs  in  less  than  twenty 
minutes. 

O.  Alcohol  injected  into  the  veins  spreads  to  all  the  tissues,  but 
accumulates  most  largely  in  the  brain;  being  in  the  liver  1.75,  in 
the  cerebral  matter,  3. 

P.  Death  by  alcoholic  poisoning  is  due  primarily  to  its  special 
action  upon  the  nervous  centers. 

Q.  After  the  injection  of  a small  dose  of  brand}'  (25  grammes= 
360  grains),  the  blood  continues  to  manifest  the  presence  of  alco- 
hol by  chemical  reaction  for  many  hours. 

It.  TT~e  never  found  in  either  the  blood  or  tissues  any  of  the  deriv- 
atives of  alcohol. 

S.  Only  in  the  stomach  was  found  a trace  of  acetic  acid,  gener- 
ated from  alcohol  by  the  ferment  of  the  gastric  juice. 

T.  Alcohol  is  rejected  from  the  vital  economy  by  divers  systems 
of  elimination — by  the  lungs,  the  skin  and  the  kidneys. 

IT.  These  organs  are  found  to  eliminate  alcohol  after  the  inges- 
tion of  very  small  doses. 

V.  The  elimination  lasts  many  hours ; even  after  an  ingestion 
very  moderate,  the  kidneys  continue  longest  to  reject  it. 

X.  Aldehyde,  introduced  into  the  stomach,  is  readily  found  in  the 
blood. 

Y.  The  aldehyde  is,  in  great  part,  eliminated,  partly  transformed 
into  acetic  acid. 

Z.  Alcohol  has  the  same  action  and  produces  the  same  effects 
upon  men  and  upon  the  lower  animals. 

If  these  propositions  are  true  then  alcohol  is  no  food ; but 
Anstie  and  Richardson  and  many  others  engaged  in  a long  and 
active  discussion — the  point  of  dispute  being  what  became  of 
the  part  of  the  alcohol  which  was  not  proved  to  be  eliminated. 


ALCOHOL'S  exit  from  the  body. 


59 


Dr.  Dupre  then  experimented  and  claimed  to  have  shown 
"that  the  amount  of  alcohol  eliminated  per  day  does  not  increase 
with  the  continuance  of  the  use  of  alcohol ; therefore  it  must 
he  somehow  destroyed  in  the  system.” 

Dr.  Sabbotin  thereupon  disproved  Dr.  Dupre’s  conclusion 
and  demonstrated  that  great  quantities  are  excreted  through  the 
lungs,  skin  and  kidneys  unchanged. 

Dr.  Anstie  followed  with  his  experiments,  by  which  he 
thought  he  had  established  the  fact  that  alcohol  was  burned 
up  in  the  body,  and  that  only  a very  small  proportion  escaped 
combustion. 

Dr.  Pavy  came  to  the  same  conclusion,  found  that  600  grains 
of  absolute  alcohol  could  be  consumed  by  an  adult  in  a day, 
that  beyond  a certain  dosage  it  becomes  a narcotic  poison  of 
dangerous  character  in  every  respect. 

Upon  these  contradictory  views  entertained  by  eminent  and 
honest  men,  and  in  giving  his  own  opinions,  than  which  none 
are  of  greater  authority,  Dr.  "William  Hargreaves  in  his  most 
valuable  book,  "Alcohol  and  Science,’’  published  in  1886, 
observes  : 

The  foregoing  are  some  of  the  chief  experiments  and  views 
regarding  the  elimination  of  alcohol  from  the  body.  Is  the  evidence 
for  or  against  the  total  elimination  of  alcohol  strong  enough  for 
us  to  decide  that  all  is  eliminated?  or  shall  we  conclude  that  only  a 
small  portion  is  cast  out  unaltered,  as  alcohol?  Though  it  must  be 
owned  that  there  is  still  room  for  further  investigation,  yet  it  is  very 
probable  that  the  greater  portion  passes  out  of  the  body  unchanged. 
The  important  points  in  the  question  arc  : — Does  alcohol  arrest  ox- 
idation, or  does  it  undergo  oxidation?  Are  the  alcohols  burned 
in  the  body,  and  do  they  yield  the  same  products  of  combustion — 
carbonic  acid  and  water — as  when  burned  in  a lamp,  or  are  they 
burned  at  all?  The  evidence,  as  we  have  seen,  is  conflicting.  On 
one  side  there  is  that  of  Percy,  Lallemand.  Perrin  and  Durov,  which 
goes  to  prove  that  alcohol  is  laid  up  in  the  tissues  until  it  is  elimi- 
nated by  the  excretory  organs.  Then  there  are  the  experiments  of 
Thudicuxn,  Dupre  and  Anstie,  showing  that  although  when  the  body 
was  supersaturated  with  it  free  alcohol  passed  off  by  the  urinary 
organs,  yet  this  bears  but  a small  proportion  to  what  ought  to  be 
found  if  the  whole  was  eliminated  in  the  form  of  alcohol. 

Each  and  all  agree  that  it  passes  off  by  the  urine  in  certain  stages 
of  intoxication  as  alcohol,  but  as  the  whole  is  not  accounted  for  by 


60 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


their  experiments  they  therefore  beg  the  question  by  assuming  that 
the  remainder  is  consumed  by  the  system. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  great  difficulties  are  in  the  way  of  the 
performance  of  all  the  necessary  experiments,  yet  it  is  clearly  not 
sufficient  to  collect  the  alcohol  only  for  a short  time  and  then  infer 
that  it  always  passes  off  at  the  same  rate  ; nor  to  collect  it  merely 
at  one  or  two  outlets  when  the  presumption  is  that  it  must  pass  out 
at  all  of  them.  Before  concluding  that  because  only  a small  part  of 
what  is  injected  is  collected  as  alcohol  the  remainder  is  consumed 
in  the  system,  Me  must  know  how  much  the  body  will  hold  and 
how  much  can  be  held  in  combination  with  the  water  of  the  tissues, 
as  the  blood  alone  contains  about  790  parts  of  water  in  1000  ; and 
also  how  long  a time  must  pass  before  a given  quantity  of  alcohol 
is  actually  removed  from  the  tissues  with  the  excretions. 

From  the  well-known  greed  of  alcohol  for  water  there  can  be  but 
little  or  no  doubt  that  a large  quantity  taken  will  become  absorbed 
with  the  water  in  the  tissues,  and  hence  remain  within  the  system 
long  after  the  period  when  it  ceases  to  be  detected  in  the  excretions 
of  the  lungs,  skin,  kidneys,  etc. 

It  is  scarcely  presumable  that  all  the  alcohol  taken  into  the  body 
could  be  detected  in  the  excretions,  yet  failing  to  detect  it  is  made 
the  test  of  the  value  of  alcohol  as  a food.  As  Dr.  Parkes  well  said 
in  reply  to  Dr.  Anstie  : ‘'Even  if  complete  destruction  within  cer- 
tain limits  were  quite  clear,  this  fact  alone  would  not  guide  us  to  the 
dietetic  use  of  alcohol.  We  have  first  to  trace  the  effect  of  the  de- 
struction and  learn  whether  it  is  for  good  or  evil/’ 

To  claim  because  alcohol  is  not  detected  that  it  must  be  oxidized 
in  the  body,  is  claiming  more  for  the  action  of  alcohol  in  the  system 
than  for  the  action  of  other  drugs.  It  is  not  reasonable  or  fair  to 
assume  because  it  is  not  collected  from  the  tissues  and  excretions 
that  it  must  be  food.  Its  mode  of  destruction,  if  it  be  destroyed,  is 
not  known,  and  there  is  no  chemical  law  that  will  warrant  the  claim 
that  it  must  be  food  if  it  is  not  found  in  the  excretions.  We  are 
unable  to  conceive  of  the  very  high  theoretical  force  value  of  the 
600  or  800  grains  of  absolute  alcohol  that  Dr.  Anstie  says  “mill- 
ions of  sober  persons  are  taking  daily.” He  asks  : “ Why 

does  not  this  large  development  of  wholly  useless  force  within  the 
body  produce  some  violent  symptom  of  disturbance?” 

While  we  do  not  believe  in  the  “ force  value  of  the  COO  or  800 
grains  of  alcohol  daily  taken,”  we  have  no  difficulty  iu  perceiving 
“some  violent  symptoms  of  disturbance.” 

These  disturbances  are  seen  everywhere  among  the  users  of  alco- 
hol, and  the  doctor  need  not  search  far  to  find  them,  as  will  be 
shown  hereafter  when  we  notice  the  diseases  produced  by  alcoholics. 


THREE  PERTINENT  INQUIRIES. 


61 


Alcohol  can  give  no  force,  as  it  cannot  give  nutrition  in  an}'  form  or 
quantity.  True,  there  appears  to  be  an  increase  of  temperature  iD 
the  first  stage  of  alcoholic  excitement ; but  it  is  brief,  and  we  may 
justly  apprehend  it  to  be  the  effect  of  local  irritation  and  paralysis 
of  the  nerves,  and  not  an  augmentation  of  force  ; for  no  sooner  does 
alcohol  find  its  way  into  the  organism  and  diffuse  itself  through  the 
fluids,  tliau  depression  takes  place,  respiration  is  impeded,  carbonic 
acid  is  decreased,  muscular  power  diminished,  and  the  sensibility 
and  consciousness  blunted. 

If  active  combustion  or  oxidation  of  alcohol  took  place  within 
the  body  we  should  reasonably  expect  that  the  temperature  would 
be  permanently  increased ; but  all  will  agree  that  the  temperature 
generally  declines  after  the  ingestion  of  alcohol.  It  is  impossible 
when  the  animal  system  is  burning  faster  than  is  normal  that  it 
should  be  colder  than  it  is  naturally. 

A slight  oxidation  may  occur  when  the  blood,  diluted  with  alcohol, 
is  carried  by  the  circulating  current  to  the  lungs  and  exposed  to  the 
air,  for  this  will  occur  if  diluted  alcohol  is  left  exposed  to  the  air 
out  of  the  body.  It  is  also  possible  that  acid  oxidation  may  take 
place,  as  is  demonstrated,  by  free  acid  sweating,  and  the  acid  secre- 
tions from  the  intestines  after  alcoholic  intoxication,  especially  by 
wine  and  malt  liquors.  This  acid  oxidation  may  perhaps  mainly 
proceed  from  the  fermentation  that  sometimes  occurs  within  the 
stomach,  caused  by  the  drinking  of  wines  and  malt  liquors  that  have 
been  imperfectly  fermented. 

Another  fact  opposed  to  the  combustive  theory  of  alcohol  in  the 
body  is  this,  that  none  of  its  derivatives  are  found  in  the  system 
unless  they  have  been  taken  independent  of  or  in  addition  to  the 
alcohol.  Lallemand,  Perrin  and  Duroy  failed  to  discover  any  alde- 
hyde except  that  which  had  been  administered,  when  it  was  readily 
detected.  When  we  see  ashes  there  is  the  evidence  that  something 
has  been  burned  ; as  aldehyde,  a derivative  of  alcohol,  has  not  been 
detected  in  the  animal  system,  as  an  evidence  that  alcohol  has  been 
decomposed,  it  is  very  clear  that  it  does  not  undergo  in  the  animal 
the  combustive  process  claimed  for  it. 

The  weight  of  evidence  shows  that  it  enters  the  animal  system 
alcohol  and  leaves  it  the  same  compound.  It  must  also  be  borne  in 
mind  that  alcohol  will  accumulate  in  the  brain,  spinal  cord  and 
nerves,  as  was  shown  by  Dr.  Hammond  in  his  New  York  lecture  ; 
and  it  is  also  well  known  that  it  accumulates  in  the  blood,  liver  and 
other  organs  and  tissues  ; hence  it  is  reasonable  to  expect  that  but 
a small  portion  would  escape  with  the  excretions.  And  further,  as 
alcohol  is  found  and  extracted  from  the  organs  and  tissues  long  after 
its  ingestion,  it  must  be  very  evident  that  it  had  not  undergone  the 


TIIE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


62 


process  of  oxidation  ; hence  we  must  still  doubt  that  it  is  decom- 
posed in  the  animal  body,  or  in  any  way  serves  to  build  up  the  tis- 
sues, or  produce  force.” 

Three  great  questions  arise  in  considering  the  relation  of 
alcohol  to  the  human  being  and  its  effect  upon  life  and  health. 

1.  Is  alcohol  a poison?  Is  it  a substance  which  is  always 
hurtful  or  useless  when  the  body  and  mind  are  in  health? 

2.  Is  alcohol  a food,  or  a substance  which  when  taken,  as 
things  admitted  to  be  foods  should  be  taken,  nourishes  the 
body  and  sustains  vitality  ? 

3.  Is  alcohol  a medicine,  or  a substance  which  even  if  a 
poison,  is  yet  under  abnormal  and  unhealthy  conditions  of  the 
human  being,  -when  administered  in  proper  cases  and  in  a 
proper  manner,  curative  or  nourishing  in  its  effect  and  a sup- 
port to  vitality  ? 

There  are  those  who  insist  that  alcohol  is  a poison  ; that  it 
is  always  actively  hurtful,  or  negatively  so,  because  always 
useless  or  worse  than  useless  to  the  human  being  in  health. 

There  are  those  who  insist  that  alcohol  is  a food,  and  never 
hurtful  in  health  except  under  conditions  when  other  foods 
would  be  so,  and  that  only  its  abuse  is  bad  as  when  bread  or 
milk  are  bad,  because  the  body  is  surfeited,  or  for  some  other 
reason  does  not  require  food. 

There  are  those  who  insist  that  alcohol  is  always  useless  or 
injurious  both  in  health  and  disease  : being  as  a medicine,  if 
ever  it  be  a medicine,  positively  dangerous,  and  never  neces- 
sary, because  equally  or  more  efficient  and  safer  remedies  are 
at  hand. 

There  are  those  who  hold  that,  whether  poison  or  food  in 
health,  that  in  disease  alcohol,  in  a great  number  and  variety 
of  cases,  is  an  appropriate,  often  a necessary,  in  some,  an  indis- 
pensable remedy  ; sometimes  a medicine  food — that  is.  a nutri- 
tious medicine. 

The  questions  in  the  public  mind  are  then,  more  briefly,  the 
following  : 

1.  Is  alcohol  under  all  circumstances,  both  of  health  or  dis- 
ease, an  injurious  poison? 

2 Is  alcohol,  in  appropriate  cases  of  health  or  disease,  a 
food  ? 

3.  Is  alcohol,  either  as  food  or  poison,  a medicine? 


THE  KIDNEYS. 

N°  I. 


DISEASED  PROM  INTEMPERANCE  . 


POISON,  FOOD  OK  MEDICINE. 


- 1)0 

There  is  some  need  that  these  terms  be  clearly  understood 
and  defined  before  proceeding  further.  A poison  is  thus  de- 
fined by  Mr.  Webster : 

1.  Any  substance  which,  when  introduced  into  the  animal  or- 
ganism, is  capable  of  producing  a morbid,  noxious  or  deadly  effect 
upon  it. 

2.  Anything  infectious  or  malignant,  as  the  poison  of  pestilential 
diseases. 

3.  Hence  that  which  taints  or  destroys  moral  purity  or  health. 

Dr.  Worcester  defines  the  word  thus  : 

Any  substance  which,  if  introduced  into  the  animal  economy, 
disturbs,  suspends  or  destroys  some  or  all  of  the  vital  functions  ; 
venom  ; virus.  2.  Anything  infectious  or  malignant.  It  is  a gen- 
eral term  and  may  be  deadly  or  otherwise,  quick  or  slow  in  its 
operation.  Venom  is  an  active  and  malignant  poison. 

Dr.  Dunglison  sa}'s  : 

Poison,  a generic  name  for  all  substances  which,  when  intro- 
duced into  the  animal  economy,  either  by  cutaneous  absorption, 
respiration  or  the  digestive  canal,  act  in  a noxious  manner  on  the 
vital  properties  or  the  texture  of  organs. 

"Noxious”  is  hurtful,  harmful,  baneful,  pernicious, injurious, 
destructive,  unwholesome,  insalubrious. 

A food  is,  according  to  Mr.  'Webster : 

1 . What  is  fed  upon  ; that  whiclr  goes  to  support  life  by  being 
received  within  and  being  assimilated  by  the  organism  of  an  animal 
or  plant ; nutriment,  aliment ; especially  is  eaten  b}r  animals  for 
nourishment ; flesh  or  vegetables  partaken  of  for  the  support  of  life  ; 
victuals ; provisions. 

2.  Anything  that  sustains,  nourishes  and  augments. 

Dr.  "Worcester  defines  food  thus  : 

Animal  or  vegetable  substances,  eaten  for  nourishment;  aliment; 
provisions  ; victuals  ; viands  ; diet ; regimen.  Food  is  a general 
term  for  whatever  is  eaten  by  man  or  beast.  ‘Diet  and  regimen  de- 
note particular  modes  of  living — diet  for  sick  persons  ; regimen  for 
the  preservation  of  health. 

Dr.  Dunglison  says  : 

Food — Aliment : and  again  Aliment — Food.  Any  substance 
which,  if  introduced  into  the  system  is  capable  of  nourishing  it  and 
repairing  its  losses. 


64 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


A medicine  is  defined  thus  by  Mr.  Webster  : 

1.  Any  substance  administered  in  the  treatment  of  disease; 
remedial  agents  ; remedy  ; physic. 

2.  That  branch  of  science  which  relates  to  the  prevention,  cure 
or  alleviation  of  the  diseases  of  the  human  body. 

Worcester  defines  "medicine”  as 

1.  A drug  or  other  substance  used  as  a remedy  for  disease ; 
physic. 

2.  That  branch  of  physic  which  relates  to  the  healing  of 
disease. 

) 

Dunglison,  in  the  Medical  Dictionary,  with  happy  brevity, 
defines  "medicine” 

A science,  the  object  of  which  is  the  cure  of  disease  and  the 
preservation  of  health. 

Occasionally  it  is  used  to  comprehend  all  branches  of  the  heal- 
ing art — at  others  to  compromise  one  great  division  in  contra- 
distinction to  surgery  and  obstetrics.  Medicine  in  this  sense 
includes  many  branches  : the  chief  of  which  are  anatomy,  physiology, 
patholog\r,  therapeutics,  hygiene,  materia  medica  and  pharmacy. 

These  definitions  make  it  clear  that  " Poison  ” is  never 
useful  to  health — it  is  the  exact  opposite  in  its  influence,  and 
can  never  be  used  to  preserve  or  restore  health  except  to  com- 
bat disease  in  the  way  that  two  murderers,  each  attempting 
to  destroy  an  innocent  man,  might,  like  mad  dogs,  be  set  upon 
each  other,  and  thus  preserve  the  life  of  their  victim  by  tak- 
ing their  own.  Food  is  never  hurtful  to  health  except  by 
beins:  taken  when  there  is  no  necessity  for  it.  Medicine  is 
only  useful  in  disease,  and  is  itself  poisonous  to  health, 
although  as  a preventive  and  restorative  even  a poison  may 
be  a medicine — at  least  in  the  generally  accepted  belief — which 
I do  not  assail.  Upon  all  these  questions  the  advocates  of 
alcohol  must  establish  the  affirmative.  True,  it  may  be  said 
that  a favorable  presumption  arises  from  the  fact  of  use,  but 
this  cannot  be  the  case  since  it  is  already  seen  that  great  evils 
are  the  result  of  that  use,  with  no  corresponding,  if  any  good 
whatever,  unless  it  may  be  in  medicine  and  surgery.  In  this 
inquiry  we  will  not  stand  upon  trifles  as  to  the  order  of  proof, 
but  in  a case  like  this  there  must  be  a clear  and  unanswerable 
demonstration  of  benefits  to  offset  the  clear  and  unanswer- 


PHYSIOLOGICAL  MATTERS. 


65 


able,  or  at  least  unanswered,  demonstration  of  enormous  evil 
and  injury  before  society  can  be  justified  in  longer  permitting 
so  questionable  and  dangerous  an  enemy  to  be  at  large. 

Whoever  attempts  to  arrrange  the  facts,  experiments,  argu- 
ments, authoritative  opinions  and  great  mass  of  general 
evidence  which  exist,  bearing  upon  the  questions  I have  stated, 
will  find  it  impossible,  without  protracted  labor,  to  analyze  and 
classify  the  material  which  is  at  hand,  so  as  to  preserve,  at  all 
times,  the  unmixed  logical  identity  of  each  topic  and  what  is 
specially  relevant  to  it.  It  is  in  fact  quite  unnecessary.  All 
these  questions  turn  upon  another  which  includes  them  and  is 
the  entire  issue.  Is  alcohol  on  the  whole  a good  to  man  which 

■O 

should  be  recognized,  and,  if  need  be,  protected  by  law? 
Therefore,  having  endeavored  to  clearly  indicate  the  points  to 
be  considered  in  this  examination  of  tbe  physiological  part  of 
our  subject,  so  that,  these  being  kept  in  mind,  the  reader  can 
analyze  and  apply  the  evidence  for  himself,  I will  endeavor  to 
state  some — it  is  impossible  to  give  all — for  the  world  would 
not  contain  the  books,  then  to  be  written — of  the  facts  and 
testimony  upon  which  the  issue  must  be  decided  ; but  without 
careful  topical  arrangement  which  would  involve  much  repe- 
tition and  useless  sacrifice  of  time  and  space. 

I cannot  hope  in  this  work  to  fully  satisfy  the  desire  of  the 
professional,  or  even  the  general  reader.  I shall  deem  myself 
happy,  if  enough  be  written  to  arouse  the  mind  to  still  further 
investigation  of  a subject,  which,  in  spite  of  all  opposition,  will 
be  thoroughly  investigated  by  the  human  race,  as  one  of  prime 
importance  to  its  interests,  both  in  this  world  and  in  that  which 
is  to  come. 

I proceed,  then,  with  the  evidence,  which  I propose  to  cite 
as  I come  to  it,  very  much  as  a witness  tells  his  story  on  the 
stand. 

Physiology  is  the  science  of  the  functions  of  living  bodies. 
A function  is  a power  or  faculty  by  the  exercise  of  which  vital 
phenomena  are  produced.  The  "tripod,”  or  three  great 
branches  of  animal  physiology,  are  the  sanguineous  system, 
the  function  of  which  is  to  circulate  the  blood  ; the  nervous 
.system,  the  function  of  which  is  to  convey  sensation,  volition 
or  vital  influence  to  and  from  the  brain ; the  muscular  system, 
the  function  of  which  is  to  move  things,  and  is  either  voluntary, 
5 


66 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


dependent  upon  the  independent  action  of  the  will ; or  involun- 
tary, going  on  of  itself  for  the  preservation  of  life. 

By  this  expression,  "physiological  action  of  alcohol,”  upon 
which  scientific  investigators  place  so  great  stress,  is  meant 
the  action  or  effect  of  alcohol  while  in  the  body  upon  these 
functions,  or  the  power  to  do  and  the  doing  of  these  great  sys- 
tems,  and  of  all  other  organs  of  the  body  ; and,  as  the  mental 
and  moral  being  are  inseparable  from  it  while  the  body  lives, 
so  is  included  in  the  expression  the  action  of  alcohol  upon  the 
whole  nature  of  man. 

I believe  it  to  be  conceded  that  the  most  important,  decisive 
and  authoritative  experiments  and  observations  upon  the  physio- 
logical action  of  alcohol  have  been  made  by  Dr.  B.  W.  Richard- 
son, and  I have  already  cited  largely  from  his  accounts  of  them. 

I will  in  this  connection  add  only  this  further  from  him  with 
which  he  concludes  his  summary  of  the  bad  effect  of  alcohol 
upon  the  system  : 

It  will  be  asked,  Was  there  no  evidence  of  any  good  service 
rendered  by  the  agent  in  the  midst  of  so  much  obvious  bad  service? 
I answer  to  that  question  that  there  was  no  such  evidence  whatever, 
and  there  is  none. 

Dr.  Parkes  and  Count  Wallowicz  made  experiments  for  a 
long  time  upon  a strong,  health}"  and  intelligent  soldier,  a 
most  vigorous  and  suitable  subject  for  the  solution  of  difficul- 
ties and  for  a demonstration  of  the  action  of  alcohol.  A very 
full  account  of  their  work  is  to  be  found  in  Proceedings  of  the 
Royal  Society,  XVIII.,  1870.  They  sum  up  the  result  as  fol- 
lows : 

....  We  were  hardly  prepared  for  the  ease  with  which  the  appe- 
tite may  be  destroyed,  the  heart  unduly  excited  and  the  capillary 
circulation  improperly  increased.  Considering  its  daily  and  almost 
universal  use,  there  is  no  agent  which  seems  to  us  to  require  more 
caution  and  more  skill  to  obtain  the  good  and  to  avoid  the  evil  which 
its  use  entails. 

Experiments  upon  animals  have  this  advantage,  that  there 
is  no  hesitation  to  administer  the  agent  in  quantities  sufficient 
to  determine  any  point,  regardless  of  the  effect  upon  the  sub- 
ject; while  constant  care  has  to  be  exercised  with  this  danger- 
ous article  lest  permanent  injury  or  death  be  the  consequence  in 
the  case  of  man.  At  the  same  time  it  has  been  demonstrated 


A LIST  OF  RESULTS. 


67 


that  the  deductions  drawn  in  the  former  are  as  reliable  as  in 
the  latter  case. 

The  celebrated  Dr.  W.  A.  Hammond  made  careful  and 
extensive  experiments  "for  the  purpose  of  arriving  at  conclu- 
sions as  nearty  exact  as  possible  relative  to  the  direct  effect 
of  alcohol  upon  the  nervous  system.”  A full  account  of  them 
is  to  be  found  in  "Neurological  Contributions,”  Vol.  1,  No.  2, 
Putnam  & Sons,  1880. 

Dr.  Hammond  gave  a dog  three  ounces  of  alcohol  diluted 
with  the  same  amount  of  water.  The  dog  retired  at  once  to1 
a corner  and  lay  down ; in  forty-eight  seconds  alcohol 
appeared  in  his  expired  breath ; in  five  minutes  he  walked 
with  reluctance ; in  eight,  with  difficulty ; in  fourteen,  could 
not  move — paralysis ; respiration  was  hurried,  heart  greatly 
accelerated ; pupils  of  the  eye  at  first  contracted ; in  fifteen 
minutes  dilated  ; in  thirty  minutes,  profound  sleep — coma  ; 
sensibility  of  the  cornea  destroyed,  the  limbs  in  a state 
of  complete  resolution,  etc. ; temperature  fallen  from  101° 
F.,  which  it  was  before  ingestion  of  the  alcohol,  to  98.50 — 
remained  in  comatose  condition  and  died  in  one  hour  and 
twenty-two  minutes  after  taking  the  alcohol. 

Dr.  Hammond  gives  us  the  following  rather  non-attractive 
list  " of  diseases  and  disorders  of  the  nervous  system  produced 
by  the  excessive  use  of  alcohol,”  made  up,  he  observes,  "from 
my  note-books, based  on  cases  occurring  in  my  pri- 

vate and  hospital  practice  : ” 

OF  THE  BRAIN. 

Cerebral  congestion. 

Cerebral  hemorrhage,  with  its  consequences  — apoplexy  and 
paralysis. 

Meningeal  hemorrhage. 

Cerebral  thrombosis. 

Softening  of  the  brain. 

Aphasia. 

Acute  cerebral  meningitis. 

Chronic  cerebral  meningitis. 

Abscess  of  the  brain. 

Multiple  cerebral  sclerosis,  one  of  those  diseases  of  which  tremor 
is  a characteristic  symptom. 

Every  variety  of  insanity,  including  general  paralysis. 


68 


the  temperance  movement. 


OF  THE  SPINAL  CORD. 

Spinal  congestion. 

Antero-cateval  spinal  sclerosis. 

Posterior  spinal  sclerosis  (locomotor  ataxia). 

Epilepsy. 

Chorea. 

Multiple  cerebro-spinal  sclerosis,  another  one  of  these  affections 
characterized  by  tremor.  Athetosis  : A remarkable  disease,  which 
I was  the  first  to  describe,  and  which  is  now  well  recognized  both 
in  this  country  and  in  Europe.  The  case  on  which  my  description 
was  based  was  one  in  which  the  patient  was  in  the  habit  of  drink- 
ing sixty  glasses  of  gin  daily . 

OF  THE  NERVES. 

Anaesthesia. 

Paralysis  agitans. 

Neuralgia  in  all  situations. 

Neuritis. 

Neuro-sclerosis. 

"Neuro-sclerosis,  or  hardening,  is  doubtless  the  result  of  the 
direct  action  of  alcohol  on  the  nervous  tissue.”  He  also  adds  : 
"Alcohol  probably  predisposes  to  various  other  'diseases’  in 
which  no  direct  relation  can  be  traced  " descendants  of  per- 
sons addicted  to  the  excessive  use  of  alcohol  are  liable  to  vari- 
ous diseases  of  the  nervous  system  and  there  is  some  evidence 
to  show  that  offspring  generated  during  a fit  of  intoxication  of 
either  parent  are  often  born  idiotic.” 

Dr.  Hammond  enumerates  various  conditions  of  exhaustion 
and  abnormity  in  which  the  use  of  alcohol  may  be  beneficially 
indulged  in  provided  there  be  full  power  of  restraint.  It  is 
in  fact  as  it  seems  to  me.  after  careful  reading  of  all  he  says 
upon  the  subject,  really  a medicinal  use  for  which  he  contends. 
I think,  in  consenting  that  the  individual  may  safely,  as  a rule, 
exercise  his  own  volition,  in  the  moderate  and  reasonable  use 
as  a remedy  for  these  abnormal  conditions  in  which  some  men 
often  find  themselves,  he  overlooks  the  fact,  that,  generally, 
they  are  without  professional  knowledge  of  themselves,  and 
therefore  not  qualified,  like  one  who  can  discourse  as  he  does 
upon  the  subject,  in  effect  "to  doctor  themselves, ” with  its 
unadvised  administration. 

I feel  the  more  certain  of  the  justice  of  these  observations 


IS  IT  A TOISON. 


G9 


from  the  fact  that  the  remarks  of  Dr.  Hammond,  which  have 
been  used  as  the  source  of  some  aid  and  comfort  to  the  advo- 
cates of  free  personal  indulgence  in  strong  drink,  were  made 
some  years  since,  and,  as  I said,  I do  not  think,  even  as  they 
are,  it  is  less  than  a perversion  to  cite  the  authority  of  his  great 
name  favorably  to  anything  but  a realty  medicinal  use,  although 
he  does  not  think  it  always  necessary  to  require  the  adminis- 
tration to  be  under  the  direction  of  a ph}rsician.  In  this  many 
strong  total  abstainers  will  agree  with  him  when  they  grant 
that  alcohol  may  property  sometimes  lie  used  as  a medicine. 
A sick  man,  or  one  in  an  abnormal  state  which  has  become 
chronic,  may  come  to  know  precisely  what  his  medical  adviser 
would  prescribe  and  so  " confess  himself  and  save  his  shilling.” 
I think  it  would  be  as  well  for  the  patient,  and  better  for  the 
profession  if  all  learned  physicians  held  less  to  the  doctrine  of 
"free  will but  this  realty  is  not  the  realm  of  professional 
opinion,  and  is  the  main  question  under  discussion,  which  it 
is  for  society  at  large  to  decide.  I feel  the  more  surety  that 
I am  right  in  this  parenthetical  attempt  to  save  the  influence  of 
this  great  name  to  the  cause  of  true  temperance  by  rebuking 
the  use  which  some  have  attempted  to  make  of  it,  by  reason 
of  the  following  letter,  written  in  kind  response  to  one  from 
myself  asking  for  information  : 

43  West  54th  Street, 

New  York,  July  loth,  1SS7. 

Dear  Sir  : As  the  best  answer  to  your  letter  of  June  25th  that 
I can  make,  I send  you  a Journal  containing  a monograph  of  mine 
on  the  effects  of  alcohol  in  the  human  system. 

I think  you  will  find  in  that  all  the  information  you  desire.  As 
you  will  perceive,  there  are  circumstances  in  which  in  mv  opinion 
alcohol  is  useful  to  the  human  system.  But  1 am , free  to  say  that, 
weighing  all  the  points  for  and  against , mankind  ironld  he  belter  men- 
tally, morally  and  physically,  if  its  use  were  altogether  abolished. 

Yours  sincerely, 

Hon.  H.  W.  Blair.  William  A.  Hammond. 

That  last  sentence  is  worth  volumes  of  this  poor  work  of 
mine.  Let  it  be  our  business  to  see  that  mankind  comprehends 
its  solemn  truth.  Then  the  use  of  alcohol  will  be  "altogether 
abolished,”  not  merely  its  manufacture  and  sale,  but  even  its 
personal  use,  because  the  safety  of  the  people  is  the  supreme 
law. 


70 


the  temperance  movement. 


Dr.  Hargreaves,  after  compiling  and  considering  all  the  evi- 
dence upon  the  subject,  says  of  the  action  of  alcohol  upon  the 
vital  organs  : "Alcohol  unnaturally  excites  the  heart  and  res- 
piration , disturbs  the  regularity  of  nervous  action  ; increases 
and  decreases  the  functions  of  digestion  according  to  the  de- 
gree  of  its  application  ; lowers  the  temperature  and  injures  the 
body  in  many  ways  without  presenting  evidence  of  a single 
beneficial  service ; but  is  evil  always,  and  that  continually.” 
That  alcohol  is  a poison  would  seem  to  be  recognized  univer- 
sally since  it  is  synonymous  with  the  expression  "intoxicating 
liquor.”  Toxicology  is  the  science  of  poisons.  The  word 
comes  from  the  Greek  word,  which  signifies  bow  or  arrow — 
the  barbarians  poisoned  their  arrows,  and  the  word  came 
among  the  Latins  to  signify  poison — and  our  word  "intoxi- 
cant ” is  a substance  which  poisons.  Alcohol  is  the  universal 
intoxicant  or  poison.  A moment’s  thought  will  show  anyone 
that,  if  we  except  tobacco,  probably  at  least  nine-tenths  of  all 
the  poisoning  done  to  civilized  nations  is  by  the  agency  of  alco- 
hol, and  a large  proportion  of  the  poisoning  suffered  by  the 
race.  Sometimes  in  destroying  it  acts  quickly,  killing  at 
once ; in  other  cases  it  may  be  years  before  completing  the 
process — but  it  should  never  be  forgotten  that  intoxication 
and  poisoning  are  the  same  thing. 

Prof.  Christison  classifies  alcohol  among  narcotic  acrid  poi- 
sons. Prof.  Reuben  D.  Mussey,  M.  D.,  one  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished medical  men  of  his  time,  and  Professor  of  Anatomy 
and  Surgery,  Dartmouth  College,  President  of  the  Few  Hamp- 
shire Medical  Society,  Fellow  of  American  Academy  of  Sci- 
ences, etc.,  etc.,  as  long  ago  as  1835,  of  this  class  of  poisons 
said  : 

"If  it  goes  into  the  blood  it  is  thrown  off  as  soon  as  the  system 
can  accomplish  its  deliverance,  if  it  has  not  been  too  far  enfee- 
bled by  the  influence  of  the  poison.”  He  further  observes  in 
his  prize  essay,  one  of  the  most  scientific  and  powerful  presenta- 
tions of  the  subject  ever  made  : "So  long  as  alcohol  retains 
a place  among  sick  patients  so  long  there  will  be  drunkards; 
and  who  would  undertake  to  estimate  the  amount  of  responsi- 
bility assumed  by  that  physician  who  prescribes  to  the  enfee- 
bled dyspeptic  patient  the  daily  internal  use  of  spirit  while  he 
knows  that  this  simple  prescription  may  ultimately  ruin  his 


SOME  STRANGE  CASES. 


71 


health,  make  him  a vagabond,  shorten  his  life,  and  cut  him  off 
from  the  hope  of  heaven.”  Speaking  of  ardent  spirits,  he 
says  : "Time  was  when  it  was  only  used  as  a medicine,  and  who 
will  dare  to  offer  a guaranty  that  it  shall  not  again  overspread 
the  world  with  disease  and  death.”  He  continues  : "Ardent 
spirit — already  under  sentence  of  public  condemnation,  and 
with  the  prospect  of  undergoing  an  entire  exclusion  from  the 
social  circle  and  the  domestic  fireside — still  lingers  in  the  sick 
chamber,  the  companion  and  pretended  friend  of  its  suffering 
inmates.  It  rests  with  medical  men  to  say  how  long  the  unal- 
terable, unrelenting  foe  of  the  human  race  shall  remain  secure 
in  this  sacred  but  usurped  retreat.  They  have  the  power,  and 
theirs  is  the  duty  to  perform  the  mighty  exorcism.  Let  the 
united  effort  soon  be  made,  and  the  fiend  be  thrust  forth  from 
this  strong  but  unnatural  alliance  and  companionship  with  men, 
and  cast  into  that  'outer  darkness’  which  lies  beyond  the  pre- 
cincts of  human  suffering  and  human  enjoyment.” 

Dr.  Chadwick  in  his  Essay  on  Alcohol  sajrs  that  alcohol  may 
kill  in  a few  minutes,  and  it  may  be  taken  in  quantities  suf- 
ficient to  cause  death  without  producing  its  effects  immedi- 
ately   by  being  absorbed  in  the  blood,  etc. 

Prof.  Pereria  says:  "The  local  effects  of  alcohol  or  recti- 
fied spirits  are  those  of  a powerful  irritant  and  caustic  poison.” 

Sir  Astlev  Cooper  says  : " I never  sutler  ardent  spirits  in 
my  house,  thinking  them  evil  spirits.” 

Dr.  Ure  says  in  his  Medical  Dictionary,  "Aqua  Vitas — 
water  of  life— the  name  absurdly  given  to  alcohol,  intoxicating 
beverages.  "It  has  been  the  aqua  mortis,  the  water  of  death, 
to  myriads  of  the  human  race  ; and  will  probably  ere  long 
destroy  the  native  tribes  of  North  America  and  Australia.” 

Dr.  Percy  gave  a full  grown  dog  2.5  ounces  of  alcohol. 
The  dog  did  not  even  gasp,  but  with  a "loud,  plaintive  cry” 
died.  "Never  did  I see  every  spark  of  vitality  more  effectually 
and  instantaneously  extinguished.”  "Death  in  this  case  was 
precisely  like  that  of  poisoning  by  prussic  acid.” 

Fontane  says  that  leeches  die  in  two  or  three  minutes  when 
wet  with  alcohol ; injected  through  the  skin — direct  to  the 
blood— a frog  died  in  one  minute ; it  kills  turtles  and  para- 
tyzes  fishes,  the  water  containing  but  a small  portion  of  alco- 
hol. 


72 


the  temperance  movement. 


Innumerable  experiments  and  observations  for  hundreds  of 
years  have  taught  the  professional  world  the  fatal  qualities  of 
alcohol. 

On  man,  the  effect  of  large  doses  of  alcohol  are  the  same  as 
on  animals.  A man  having  stolen  a bottle  of  whisky,  thought 
to  get  the  good  of  it  and  yet  conceal  his  crime,  drank  the 
whole  and  died  in  four  hours.  A boy  drank  secretly  from 
his  father’s  bottle.  His  silence  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
father’,  who  called  him  by  name  ; but  he  was  insensible,  and  in 
less  than  an  hour,  dead. 

P.  De  Marmon,  M.  D.,  of  Kings  P>ridge,  N.  Y.,  read  a 
paper  to  the  N.  Y.  Medical  Journal  Association,  Peb.  18,  1870, 
in  which  he  said  : "Within  a year  I have  seen  three  cases  of 
poisoning  by  alcohol  in  children” — two  of  them  died.  Pie 
then  describes  the  children,  their  symptoms,  etc.,  which  I 
abbreviate.  One,  a boy,  who  was  five  years  old,  strong,  healthy 
child  of  Irish  parents,  drank  tumbler  full  of  whisky  Sunday 
morning,  died  in  19  hour’s.  "Sarah  F.,  a little  girl,”  strong 
and  healthy,  of  sober  Irish  parents,  tumbler  full  of  whisky 
given  her  by  a boy  who  was  fifteen  years  old.  AYas  about  to 
die,  but  active  medical  treatment  producing  heavy  vomiting, 
saved  her.  The  third  case:  " Robert  X.,  a boy  eight  years 

old, father  and  mother  both  regular  inebriates,”  and 

both  drunk  at  the  time  ; boy  took  whisky  at  eight  o’clock  Fri- 
day morning  and  dead  in  twenty-one  hours.  In  this  case  an 
autops}’  thirty-one  hours  after  death  showed  the  body  thin, 
icteric  ; rigor  mortis  well  marked  in  the  lower  limbs,  but  none 
in  the  arms  nor  in  the  neck  ; the  head  rolling  about  as  if  it  had 
been  dislocated  in  its  cervical  articulation.  The  lungs  were 
thoroughly  congested,  and  of  a dark-blue  color,  and  contained 
a large  quantity  of  black  blood,  which  could  be  pressed  out, 
as  if  from  a sponge,  after  cutting  through  the  texture  of  the 
organ.  The  internal  membrane  of  the  bronchus  was  livid  and 
coated  with  bloody,  spumous  mueosities  ; the  pericardium  con- 
tained about  half  an  ounce  of  s.erum.  P’he  right  ventricle  of 
the  heart  was  much  distended  with  dark  blood  and  had  black 
clots  ; the  left  ventricle  was  empty  ; the  blood  had  a smell  of 
whisky.  The  liver  was  congested,  of  a pale  yellowish  color, 
and  the  gall  bladder  less  than  half  full.  The  above  are  not 
isolated  cases.  Our  daily7  and  weekly  papers  frequently  relate 


THE  LIVER 

N?  I . 
HEALTHY 
SECTION. 


NO  2 . 
NUTMEG 
DEGENERATION. 
A 


N°  3 . 
CHEESYAND 
CANCEROUS 
DEGENERATION. 


N°  4 

CANCEROUS 

TUBERCLES. 


CONSIDERED  AS  FOOD. 


73 


similar  occurrences,  all  over  our  country  ; indeed  they  have 
become  so  common  that  they  fail  to  call  forth  any  comment. 

In  the  year  1868,  in  the  Northern  Hospital,  Liverpool,  Eng- 
land, alone,  there  were  thirty-six  cases  of  acute  alcohol  poison- 
ing, which  generally  resulted  "from  the  practice  of  sucking 
new  rum  from  casks  at  the  docks  ; and  not  unfrequently  very 
young  boys  are  subjects  of  it.” 

There  seems  to  be  among  many  an  idea  that  a thing  which 
is  a poison  in  a large  dose  may  be  a food — that  is  a nourisher 
of  growth  and  support  of  health — in  a small  one.  One  can  con- 
ceive how  an  overplus  of  nourishment  may  do  injury,  as  too 
much  water  may  drown  the  wheel,  by  creating  a mechanical 
obstruction  of  the  organs  in  the  discharge  of  their  functions, 
or  imposing  upon  them  a task  beyond  their  strength,  or  again 
by  introducing  into  the  body  a larger  or  smaller  proportion  of 
any  given  chemical  element  some  of  which  is  required  by 
nature  in  the  healthy  frame.  But  all  such  substances  are  the 
result  of  a life  process  and  not  of,  decay,  and  in  no  instance 
do  they  attack  the  structure  of  the  organs  or  the  other  life 
and  health-giving  substances  with  which  they  come  in  contact 
in  the  body  ; while  alcohol  is  known  to  make  war  upon  every 
other  healthy  substance,  structure  and  function  of  the  body. 
It  creates  nothing.  It  is  a destroyer.  War  may  sometimes 
be  a blessing.  But  it  is  a blessing  only  because  we  are  suffer- 
ing from  or  threatened  by  a still  greater  curse.  Opposing 
forces,  either  of  which  might  draw  us  from  the  straight  and  nar- 
row path,  along  which  we  must  move  to  physical  as  well  as  spir- 
itual life,  and  precipitate  us  into  the  fatal  abyss  which  yawns  on 
the  one  or  the  other  hand,  may  counteract  each  other,  and  the 
resultant  motion  may  be  along  the  line  of  health  and  happiness. 
So  a blister  which  burns  and  inflames,  because  it  is  a poison, 
may  cure  the  inflammation  within.  One  poison  may  counteract 
the  effect  of  another — these  are  medicinal  effects.  But  who 
can  conceive  that  arsenic,  or  strychnine,  or  prussic  acid  is  a 
food  ; yet  each  one  of  them,  under  certain  abnormal  conditions 
of  the  body,  is  a preventive  of  disease  and  in  others  a cure. 
There  is  no  evidence  that  any  living  creature  in  health  ever  de- 
sired alcohol ; that  to  smell  or  taste  it  was  attractive  ; that  in 
the  extremest  hunger  or  thirst  unperverted  nature  did  not 
revolt  from  it : and  in  fact  the  more  faint  and  exhausted  the 


74 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


system  the  greater  danger  from  its  administration,  because  the 
rage  of  alcohol  for  the  water  in  the  system,  leads  to  its  more 
rapid  distribution  throughout  the  system,  when  the  stomach  has 
been  long  empty  of  food.  Then,  if  ever,  alcohol  must  be  admin- 
istered with  extreme  care,  and  if  it  relieve  faintness  and  restore 
the  tone  of  the  system  for  the  moment  its  action  is  not  a 
nourishing,  which  is  the  office  of  food,  but  the  cold  prick  of 
steel  in  the  side  of  jaded  nature,  which  will  faint  all  the  sooner 
for  the  stimulus,  unless  in  some  other  form  the  real  bread  and 
water  of  life  are  furnished  to  revive  the  dying  powers. 

Says  Dr.  Hargreaves  : 

Alcohol,  the  essential  ingredient  in  all  liquids,  having  undergone 
vinous  fermentation,  has,  by  the  universal  judgment  and  consent 
of  toxicologists,  been  classed,  as  already  seen,  as  a poison  when 
taken  in  large  doses.  Yet  there  are  those  who  seem  to  be  unable 
to  distinguish  between  a poison  and  a food.  Poisoning,  it  is  true, 
may  differ  in  degree  according  to  the  strength  of  the  poison,  or  the 
power  of  the  organism  to  resist  its  toxical  effects.  If  no  substances 
•except  those  which  produce  immediately  fatal  effects  were  classed 
as  poisons,  the  number  would  be  very  limited. 

It  appears  very  illogical  to  suppose  that  a substance,  which  if 
given  in  large  doses  will  destroy  life,  becomes  a food  when  taken  in 
smaller  quantities.  Two  pounds  of  good  bread  or  beef  are  no 
more  a poison  than  two  drachms,  while  one-sixtieth  of  a grain  of 
strychnia  is  as  much  a poison  in  its  nature  as  any  other  quantity. 

If  alcohol  is  a poison,  it  cannot,  by  any  straining  of  logic,  be  a 
food.  If  it  is  food,  it  cannot  be  a poison.  A poison  is  any  sub- 
stance “ that  disconcerts  and  disturbs  life’s  healthy  movements,” 
and  “ is  not  capable  of  being  converted  into,  or  becoming  a part  of, 
the  living  organism.” 

Prof.  Dalton  says,  “Under  the  term  food  are  included  all  those 
substances,  solid  and  liquid,  which  are  necessary  to  sustain  the 
process  of  nutrition.”  The  first  act  of  this  process  is  the  absorp- 
tion from  without  of  those  materials  which  enter  into  the  composi- 
tion of  the  living  frame,  or  of  others  that  may  be  converted  into 
them  in  the  interior  of  the  body.  Which  of  these  definitions  cor- 
responds to  the  nature  and  effects  of  alcohol  ? Are  not  its  nature 
and  effects  that  of  a poison?  The  action  of  alcohol,  after  it  enters 
into  the  blood-current,  is  a question  that  has  long,  and  is  still,  as 
already  seen,  agitating  the  scientific  world. 

The  Liebigian  doctrine,  that  though  alcohol  is  not  a tissue-form- 
ing substance,  but  a calorific  agent,  has  had  many  supporters,  who 


* VARIOUS  NUTRIMENTS  COMPARED. 


75 


maintained  its  value  as  a respiratory  or  heat-generating  food, 
though  no  proof  of  any  kind  was  presented  by  Liebig  that  alcohol 
was  eliminated  from  the  blood  by  a process  of  combustion.  This 
doctrine  had  a long  reign,  and  much  was  written  and  said  about 
carbon,  and  the  respiratory  and  heat-giving  power  of  alcohol,  with- 
out any  facts  to  show  that  it  was  burnt  up,  or  decomposed  within 
the  body.  Professor  Moleschott  advanced  the  doctrine  that,  if 
alcohol  was  not  food  itself,  it  made  food  last  longer.  Afterwards 
it  was  discovered  that  alcohol  destroyed  molecular  life  by  narcotiz- 
ing it,  and  that  when  there  was  less  life  there  was  less  waste,  and 
consequently  less  need  for  food.  This  error,  like  every  other,  died 
amid  its  worshippers. 

But  that  the  food  doctrine  might  not  yet  die,  Dr.  Anstie  steps  in 
with  another  theory ; laboring  earnestly  to  prove  in  his  book  on 
“ Stimulants  and  Narcotics”  that  alcohol  in  certain  doses  is  a 
stimulant  and  tonic,  and  not  a poison  ; and  by  attaching  other  defini- 
tions to  words  endeavored  to  prove  that  food  is  medicine,  and  medi- 
cine food ; and  that  alcohol  is  both  food  and  medicine ; as  by  his 
theory  stimulants  are  tonics,  and  tonics  stimulants,  and  as  food 
was  both  stimulant  and  tonic,  and  alcohol  being  both  a stimulant 
and  a tonic,  it  must  therefore  be  food.  Dr.  Anstie  says-(page  714) , 
“ one  of  the  most  deadly  poisons  is  in  small  doses  an  excellent 
tonic,  namely,  arsenic.  Hence  there  seems  to  be  a radical  differ- 
ence, and  not  one  of  degree,  between  the  effects  of  large  and  small 
doses  of  alcohol.”  If  arsenic  is  a tonic,  why  not  use  it,  as  well  as 
alcohol,  in  small  doses  ? Why  not  call  it  a food?  Again  he  says 
(page  715) — “ The  very  fact  that  the  ‘ poison-line’  of  alcohol  can 
be  shifted  by  an  alteration  in  the  state  of  the  bodily  health  is,  to  my 
mind,  one  of  the  strongest  confirmations  of  the  theory  that  there 
is  a radical  distinction  between  the  effect  of  large  and  small  doses. 
So  long  as  there  is  any  need  for  alcohol  in  the  system,  it  will  fail  to 
intoxicate.” 

Thi§  might  be  applicable  to  the  taking  of  a beefsteak,  when  the 
stomach  was  not  in  a condition  to  digest  it.  But,  as  regards  the 
need  of  the  system  for  alcohol  preventing  it  from  intoxicating,  we 
fail  to  see  the  force  of  the  argument.  The  doctor  admits  that  in 
certain  doses  alcohol  is  a narcotic. 

Every  mother  who  has  ever  given  her  child  a narcotic  knows 
that,  if  it  is  repeated  often,  the  dose  must  be  increased  to  produce 
its  desired  effect.  It  has  been  said  that  alcohol  lessens  the  vital 
powers  by  narcotizing  the  system,  and  hence  that  the  system 
requires  an  increased  dose  of  the  narcotic  to  arouse  the  sensibilities 
blunted  by  the  use  of  the  . poison,  and  not  that  the  increased  or 
repeated  dose  is  required  by  the  needs  of  the  organism.  True  to 


76 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


the  theory  of  supposing  that  the  craving  or  needs  of  the  system  will 
prevent  alcoholics  from  intoxicating  or  injuring  the  system,  the 
following  very  aptly  applies  : 

“The  nervous  system,  the  very  center  and  basis  of  the  vital 
functions,  has  been  drained  of  blood  and  exhausted  of  force,  and 
unless  it  be  quickly  restored  to  its  wonted  activity  life  must  cease.” 
Now,  when  “ the  vital  functions  have  been  drained  of  blood,”  etc.,, 
it  would  be  the  act  of  common  sense  to  administer  to  the  system 
some  of  the  blood-making  substances  to  increase  the  force ; but 
instead  of  which  Dr.  Anstie  says  : “Under  these  circumstances,  the 
rapid  absorption  of  a substance,  which,  like  alcohol,  has  a special 
proclivity  towards  the  nervous  system,  is  precisely  the  best  means 
of  reviving  the  failing  circulation  in  the  nervous  centers,  and  uphold- 
ing the  powers  of  life  (i.  e.,  keeping  the  machinery  going)  until  the 
body  can  be  supplied  with  its  ordinary  nutriment  in  sufficient  quantity 
to  restore  the  condition  of  healthy  nutrition.” 

Here  the  doctor  admits  that  alcohol  will  only  keep  the  machinery 
going  until  it  can  be  supplied  with  ordinary  nutriment.  Now,  if  it 
is  food  and  nutriment,  why  not  continue  its  use  instead  of  the 
“ ordinary  nutriment  ” ? 

If  it  will  not  supply  the  place  of  ordinary  nutriment,  how  can  it 
have  any  claim  to  be  food?  If  the  “vital  functions  have  been 
-drained  of  blood  and  exhausted  of  force,”  why  lose  time  by  waiting 
for  alcohol  to  keep  the  machinery  going?  Why  not  give  the  proper 
nutriment  at  once,  in  the  form  of  beef  tea,  milk,  etc.,  instead  of 
alcohol,  which  gives  no  force,  but  will  use  up  some  of  the  little  force 
still  remaining  in  its  efforts  to  eliminate  it  from  the  system? 

Dr.  Richardson  says:  “They  themselves  (alcohols)  supply  no 
force  at  any  time,  but  cause  expenditure  of  force,  by  which  means 
they  get  out  of  the  body,  and  therewith  lead  to  exhaustion  and 

paralysis  of  motion The  animal  force  which  should  be 

expended  on  the  nutrition  and  sensation  of  the  bod}T  is  in  part 
expended  on  the  alcohol,  an  entire  foreign  expenditure.” 

Dr.  Anstie  says  : “If  it  be  well  understood  that  a glass  of  good 
wine  will  relieve  a man’s  depression  and  fatigue  sufficiently  to  enable 
him  to  digest  his  dinner,  and  that  a pint  of  gin  taken  at  once  will 
probably  kill  him  stone-dead,  why  haggle  about  words?  On  the 
part  of  the  medical  profession,  I think  I may  say  that  we  have  long 
since  begun  to  believe  that  those  medicines  which  really  do  benefit 
our  patients  act  in  one  way  or  another  as  foods,  and  that  some  of 
the  most  decidedly  poisonous  substances,  are  those  which  offer,  in  the 
form  of  small  doses,  the  strongest  example  of  a true  food  action.  On 
the  part  of  alcohol,  then,  I venture  to  claim  that,  though  we  all 
acknowledge  it  to  be  a poison,  if  taken  during  health,  iu  any  but  quite 


NUTRITION  AXI>  ALCOHOL. 


77 


restricted  doses,  it  is  also  a valuable  medicine  food.  I am  obliged 
to  declare  that  the  chemical  evidence  is  as  yet  insufficient  to  give 
any  complete  explanation  of  its  exact  manner  of  acting  upon  the 
system  ; but  that  the  facts  are  as  striking  as  they  could  well  be, 
and  that  there  can  be  no  mistake  about  them.” 

Here  we  are  told  that  medicine  of  value  is  food,  and  food  is 
medicine,  and  alcohol  must  be  somehow  food  ; yet  he  frankly  con- 
fesses a very  important  fact,  that  he  is  not  able  to  tell  us  how 
alcohols  act  on  the  system.  Have  we  arrived  at  the  last  quarter  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  with  the  experiments  of  English,  French 
and  German  investigators  before  us,  and  still  are  ignorant  of  the 
action  of  food?  If  not,  how  can  alcohol  be  food?  But  let  us 
examine  the  food  power  of  alcohol. 

Dr.  Hargreaves  then  proceeds  with  a masterly  discussion  of 
more  than  one  hundred  pages  to  demonstrate  by  fact,  argu- 
ment and  authority  that  alcohol  has  no  food  value  nor  power 
to  support  vitality.  I can  do  little  more  than  refer  the  reader 
to  his  great  hook,  from  which  I have  already  so  often  quoted. 
But  it  may  be  best  to  attempt  a condensed  statement  of  what 
he  has  so  well  done  at  large. 

He  says  on  the  subject  of  nutrition  and  alcohol : 

Every  substance  capable  of  nourishing  the  human  system,  and 
entitled  to  the  name  of  food,  consists  either  of  starch,  sugar,  oil, 
albuminous  or  glutinous  matter,  whether  derived  from  the  animal 
or  vegetable  kingdom. 

The  blood  is  the  bearer  of  nutriment  to  the  tissues  of  the  body 
to  replace  the  waste  arising  from  the  disintegration  that  is  constantly 
taking  place  in  the  organism. 

Nutriment  furnished  by  the  food  is,  by  the  various  processes  of 
digestion,  assimilation,  etc.,  gradually  converted  into  blood,  from 
which  the  tissues  extract  their  own  proper  pabulum. 

But  food  has  another  office  to  fulfill.  It  is  necessary  to  health, 
nay,  to  life  itself,  that  the  temperature  of  the  body  be  maintained 
at  a given  point,  which  point  is  the  same,  with  little  variation,  by 
day  or  night,  when  active  or  at  rest,  at  all  seasons  of  the  year,  and 
in  all  climates. 

This  heat  is  generated  in  the  body  itself,  the  materials  for  its 
maintenance  being  found  in  the  blood,  partly  from  combination  of 
the  oxygen  inspired  by  the  lungs  with  certain  elements  of  disintegra- 
tion, but  chiefly,  in  climates  like  this,  by  its  combination  with  cer- 
tain elements  of  our  food.  Every  substance  capable  of  being 


78 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


employed  as  food  subserves  at  least  one  of  these  processes — the 
formation  of  tissue,  or  the  production  of  heat. 

Thus  food  has  a double  office  to  fulfill — namely,  to  furnish  the 
blood  with  the  materials  for  repairing  the  waste  of  the  tissues  and 
its  fluid  secretions,  and  with  the  materials  for  carrying  on  this  inter- 
nal combustion,  the  fuel  for  his  ever-burning  fire. 

Dr.  James  Edmunds,  who  has  hardly  a superior  as  an 
authority  upon  all  that  relates  to  alcohol,  in  a lecture  in  New 
York  city,  Sept.  17,  1874,  defining  the  term  "food,”  said  : , 

I would  say  that  a food  is  that  which,  being  innocent  in  relation 
to  the  tissues  of  the  body,  is  a digestible  or  absorbable  substance, 
that  can  be  oxidized  in  the  body,  and  decomposed  in  such  a way 
as  to  give  up  to  the  body  the  forces  which  it  contains.”  This  defini- 
tion of  a food  is  clear,  concise,  logical  and  based  upon  the  physio- 
logical and  chemical  action  of  a true  food  ; or  in  the  words  of  the 
doctor,  “ brings  food  in  relation  to  the  body  into  a perfect  parallel 
with  fuel  iu  relation  to  a steam-engine.”  There  is  no  doubt  that 
that  is  philosophically  correct  in  the  last  degree. 

Keeping  this  definition  in  view,  as  its  correctness  cannot  be 
doubted,  let  us  endeavor  to  ascertain  if  alcohol  be  a food.  Dr. 
Gordon  said  : “It  would  be  difficult  to  find  a more  destructive 
poison  than  ardent  spirits  ” — dilute  alcohol.  We  may  recall  the 
experiment  of  Dr.  Percy  who  injected  two  ounces  and  a half  of 
alcohol  into  the  stomach  of  a dog,  when  immediately  the  animal 
uttered  a loud,  plaintive  cry,  and  fell  dead  at  his  feet.  “ Never,”' 
says  Dr.  Percy,  “ did  I see  every  spark  of  vitality  more  instantane- 
ously extinguished.” 

The  action  of  alcohol  in  this  case  produced  death  precisely  as 
would  a large  dose  of  prussic  acid.  Is  alcohol  innocent  in  relation 
to  the  tissue?  Is  it  not  destructive  to  life?  Would  two  ounces  or 
even  two  pounds  of  the  most  concentrated  food  have  killed  the  dog? 

Those  who  advocate  the  use  of  alcohol  as  a food  will  at 
least  be  willing  to  join  in  the  general  "smile”  which  must 
arise  on  the  faces  of  all  who  have  any  sense  of  the  ludicrous 
at  the  thought  of  this  species  of  food.  It  will  be  remem- 
bered that  alcohol  is  derived  from  the  decomposition  of  sugar, 
also  that  one  half  at  least  of  the  sugar  is  by  the  process  turned 
into  carbonic  acid  gas,  which  is  a poisonous  gas,  capable  of 
destroying  life.  The  remainder  is  of  course  not  sugar,  and 
the  great  preponderance  of  evidence  is  that  none  of  it  is  food, 
but  even  if  it  were  the  economical  idea  has  vanished.  It  does 


COMPARED  WITH  A LOAF  OF  BREAD. 


19 


not  follow  that,  because  liquors  are  made  of  sugar  as  found 
in  apples,  wheat,  barley  and  grapes,  that  the  alcoholic  product 
is  good.  The  process  of  making  is  one  of  putrefaction,  and 
there  is  a presumption  that  the  result  being  no  form  of  life,  is 
in  some  fashion  death— but  chemical  annalysis  has  settled  the 
food  value  question. 

A barrel  of  beer,  thirty-one  gallons,  is  made  from  about 
two  and  one  half  bushels  of  barley.  Very  nutritious  beer 
then  would  that  be  in  which  were  to  be  found  the  food  remains 
of  156  pounds,  or  three  bushels.  Then  there  will  be  5.2 
pounds  used  in  making  a gallon,  that  is  83.2  ounces  of  barley 
to  a gallon.  It  is  found  that  in  the  process  of  malting  there 
is  lost  20  ounces  ; mashing,  27.4  ounces  ; fermenting,  13.4  ; in 
"fining,”  9 ounces  ; in  all,  70  ounces  ; and  the  remaining  "food,” 
consisting  of  13.2  ounces,  is  principally  a gum  which  has  little, 
if  any,  nutriment  in  it,  and  in  cash  value  as  nourishment  the 
three  bushels  of  barley,  or  of  any  given  quantity  of  barley,  even 
if  this  remainder  were  as  nutritious  in  proportion  as  the  barley 
was  originally,  less  than  one  sixth  remains.  In  other  words, 
in  order  to  obtain  the  nourishment  that  is  in  the  three  bushels 
of  barley,  it  will  be  necessary  to  drink  six  barrels,  or  186 
gallons,  of  beer.  Consumed  by  the  glass,  at  ten  cents  per 
glass,  and  allowing  two  drinks  to  a pint,  and  ten  cents  a drink, 
the  three  bushels  of  barley  cost  $297.60,  in  round  numbers 
$300.  The  average  American  laborer  would  thus  be  able,  by 
diligence  and  economy,  to  earn  enough  to  buy  just  about 
three  bushels  of  barley  a year.  If  five  cents  a glass  is  enough, 
then  he  can  buy  his  three  bushels  of  barley  in  six  months.  If 
the  barley  is  worth  $1.00  per  bushel,  he  is  earning  two  cents 
per  diem— about  one  fiftieth  his  wages  in  money  at  $1.00  per 
day— the  average  number  of  working  days  an  industrious 
man  is  employed  not  being  over  300  in  a year.  If  the  beer 
costs  ten  cents  a glass,  then  he  earns  in  food  consumed  in  the 
form  of  beer,  exactly  one  cent  a day.  I suspect  that  it  costs 
more  than  ten  cents  per  glass,  time,  frolic  and  sometimes 
debauch  considered.  Baron  Liebig  himself  ridicules  this  food- 
value  nonsense.  He  says  : "If  a man  drinks  daily  eight  or 
ten  quarts  of  the  best  Bavarian  beer  (equal  to  our  lager  beer), 
in  the  course  of  twelve  months  he  will  have  taken  into  his 
system  the  nutritive  constituents  contained  in  a five-pound 


80 


-THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


loaf  of  bread.”  So  that  the  father  of  the  food  theory  himself 
justifies  the  use  of  malt  liquors  because  they  contain  food, 
when  it  will  require  a man  to  consume  daily"  a pailful  for  a 
a year  in  order  to  obtain  ten  cents  worth  of  food.  Few  men 
can  think  of  drinking  more  than  three  quarts  per  diem  and 
accomplish  much  else.  It  would  then  require  three  years 
time  to  drink  up  the  nourishment  in  the  live-pound  loaf  of 
bread.  The  man  would  not  obtain  a crumb  to  a meal,  and 
would  actually  consume  less  than  a hearty  canary  bird,  or 
even  the  common  red  ant  which  invades  his  sugar  bowl. 

If  it  be  said  that  he  gets  the  water  also — certainly,  but 
he  can  have  that  in  far  better  state  for  nothing,  and  it  will 
relieve  and  not  increase  his  thirst  besides.  If  it  be  said  that 
he  feels  the  better  and  stronger — that  again  is  a delusion  and 
a snare.  He  is  weaker,  and  his  sottish  jov  is  inferior  to  that 
of  healthy  animal  life — of  the  sober  "beasts  that  perish.” 

The  following  table  shows  the  chemical  composition  of  the 
principal  liquors.  The  extract  indicates  all  that  can  possibly 
be  claimed  to  be  food  : 


Name. 

Whisky 
per  cent- 

Wine 
per  cent. 

Porter  | Ale 
per  cent.:  per  cent. 

Beer 

per  cent. 

Number  of  ounces 
in  a pint  of  beer. 

Alcohol, 

2S  to  55 

14  to  23 

3.00 

5.85 

4.00 

hi  ounces. 

Extract, 

0.09  ; 

5.00 

5.00 

11?,  ounces. 

.21 

.15 

.17 

Water, 

72  to  45 

SC  to  70 

90.70  j 

so.oo 

90.17 

13  ounces. 

Total, 

100.00 

100.00 

100.00 

10  ounces. 

Liebig  says  : "Beer,  wine  and  spirits  furnish  no  element 
capable  of  entering  into  the  composition  of  the  blood,  mus- 
cular fiber,  or  any  part  which  is  the  vital  principle.”  Dr. 
Grindrod  says  A copious  London  beer  drinker  is  all  one 
vital  part ; he  wears  his  heart  on  his  sleeve,  bare  to  a death 
wound  from  the  claw  of  a cat  or  a rusty  nail.  Every  medical 
man  in  London  dreads  a beer  drinker  for  a patient  in  a sur- 
gical case.” 

Dr.  Edmunds  declares  that  the  diseases  of  beer  drinkers  are 
alwa}'s  of  a dangerous  character,  and  that  such  persons  can 
never  undergo  the  most  trifling  operation  with  the  security  of 
the  temperate.”  Dr.  Thomas  Sewell.  Columbia  College, 
Washington,  D.  C.,  says  "That  alcohol  is  a poison  ever  at 
war  with  man's  nature  ....  and  finally  produces  scirrhous 


DIAGRAMS  OF  THE  STDMAfll  I1V  VAKKOUS  COADFIWS . 


Healthful . 


Moderate  Drinking . 


Dnmkards. 


Ulcerous. 


Deatli  by  Delirium  Tremens. 


After  a long  Debauch 


awakening  old  appetites 


81 


cancer  of  the  stomach  and  other  organic  affections,  Is  o one 
who  indulges  habitually  in  the  use  of  alcoholics,  whether  in 
the  form  of  wine  or  more  ardent  spirits,  possesses  a healthy 
stomach.” 

Think  of  that-— the  habitual  use  of  a food  destroying  the 
very  organ  provided  by  nature  to  welcome  it  and  appropriate  it 
to  the  system- — and  then  also  destroying  the  system  itself.  It 
would  be  better  to  live  on  some  milder  and  more  nutritious 
poison. 

The  serious  side  of  this  proposed  substitution  of  beer,  etc., 
for  distilled  drinks,  both  for  food  and  reformation,  is  vividly 
and  powerfully  set  forth  by  Dr.  J.  M.  Buckley  in  the  Chris- 
tian Advocate  of  July  7,  1887.  Dr.  Buckley’s  tract  on  this 
subject  should  be  carefully  read  by  everyone,  for  the  increas- 
ing use  of  beer  is  worse  than  all  the  plagues  of  Eg}rpt.  We 
may  yet  in  good  earnest  be  urging  the  people  to  go  back  to 
brandy,  whisky,  gin  and  rum  as  a means  of  reforming  them 
from  this  sodden,  drooling,  half-witted  style  of  drunkenness 
which  substitutes  a stupid,  boozy  mass  for  the  old-fashioned 
few,  wide-awake  with  delirium  tremens,  a disease  which  was 
characterized  by  a certain  fatal  liveliness  and  dispatch  far  pref- 
erable to  the  wheezy  and  idiotic  stupors  of  the  beer  guzzlers. 

Dr.  Buckley  says  : 

Great  lias  been  the  increase  in  the  use  of  malt  liquors  in  the 
United  States  during  the  past  twenty-five  years.  Instead  of  dimin- 
ishing intemperance,  as  some  claim,  the  drinking  usages  of  society 
have  greatly  increased.  It  was  maintained  when  lager  beer  was 
first  introduced  into  this  country  that  its  general  use  would  diminish 
intemperance,  but  side  by  side  with  its  growing  use  that  of  spirituous 
liquors  has  also  increased. 

Our  climate  is  more  stimulating  than  that  of  Germany,  and  our 

beer  is  stronger Many  have  used  malt  liquors — and  to 

excess — who  before  they  became  common  had  never  used  intoxicat- 
ing liquors  of  any  kind those  who  would  never  have 

touched  whisky,  brandy  or  gin,  and  who  even  shrank  from  the  use 
of  wine,  have  taken  to  beer  drinking.  This,  too,  has  been  a constant 

stumbling  block  for  the  partially  reformed Thus  men  and 

boys  who  would  hesitate  to  enter  upon  a course  of  general  liquor 

drinking  have  begun  with  beer Many  nursing  mothers 

have  been  led  to  drink  malt  liquors  under  the  delusion  that  it  was 
beneficial  to  them  and  not  hurtful  to  their  infants.  Thus  the  article 
6 


82 


TTIE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


has  been  introduced  into  the  home  and  become  a common  drink,  and 
the  whole  character  of  many  families  changed. 

By  the  use  of  beer  hereditary  appetites,  long  dormant,  have  been 
awakened.  A young  man,  whose  grandfather  died  a drunkard,  but 
whose  father  was  a rigid  abstainer,  when  led  to  drink  a glass  of 
beer,  plunged  immediately,  to  the  amazement  of  all  his  friends,  into  a 
wild  debauch.  He  had  previously  resisted  many  temptations  to 

touch  wines  or  brandy Grocers  and  their  clerks,  keeping 

malt  liquors,  have  become  demoralized,  in  many  instances  taken  to 
drinking  and  in  most,  so  far  as  we  can  ascertain,  have  finally  added 

spirituous  liquors  to  their  stock In  addition  to  all  this  the 

influence  of  every  user  of  malt  liquors,  as  a luxury  or  as  a beverage, 
has  either  been  against  total  abstinence  or  it  has  been  sufficient  to 

paralyze  any  efforts  that  have  been  made The  beer  drinker 

expostulating  with  the  wine  drinker  has  nothing  to  say 

Lovers  of  strong  liquors  will  not  leave  them  to  come  back  to  malt 

liquors Alcohol  lias  a thirst-producing  power,  and  every 

article  that  contains  alcohol  has  it.  How  can  men  drink  ten,  twenty, 
thirty,  or,  as  has  been  testified  in  court,  fifty  glasses  a day,  if  beer 

does  not  produce  thirst?  It  is  not  so  with  water  or  milk 

With  a considerable  acquaintance  with  reformed  persons,  we  have 
yet  to  find  one  who  was  brought  back  from  gin,  whisky  or  brandy 
by  the  substitution  of  beer. 

There  is  a common  impression  that  alcohol  creates  heat  or 
the  power  to  resist  cold  ; but  this  is  the  result  of  a deception 
of  the  senses.  We  are  not  always  as  we  feel  for  the  moment, 
and  a rush  of  the  circulation  to  the  surface,  unless  there  is  a 
creative  rather  than  a mere  stimulating  impulse  behind,  ex- 
hausts the  heat  of  the  body  by  the  more  rapid  radiation  ; so 
that  in  reality  the  power  to  resist  cold  very  soon  begins  to 
decline.  This  is  the  reason  why  a partially  intoxicated  man  is 
lost  unless  he  is  soon  rescued  from  severe  cold. 

All  the  great  Arctic  travelers  attest  that  ardent  spirits  lessen 
the  power  of  the  human  system  to  resist  severe  cold.  They 
depress  the  vital  forces.  The  heat  generating  the  fuel-burn- 
ing power  of  the  organism  is  diminished,  and  great  care  was 
necessary  in  the  supervision  of  the  men  to  prevent  the  con- 
sumption of  ardent  spirits.  Ross,  Kane,  Parry,  and  Franklin, 
all  attest  the  same  thing.  Dr.  McRae  says:  "The  moment 
that  a man  had  swallowed  a drink  of  spirits  it  was  certain  that 
his  day’s  work  was  nearly  at  an  end.  It  was  absolutely  neces- 
sary that  the  rule  of  total  abstinence  be  rigidly  enforced  if  we 


NO  AID  TO  DIGESTION. 


83 


would  accomplish  our  day’s  task.  'Whatever  it  could  do  fora 
sick  man,  its  use  as  a beverage,  when  we  had  work  on  hand, 
in  that  terrific  cold,  was  out  of  the  question.”  Now  here  was 
a case  of  the  greatest  necessity  for  alcohol  as  a food,  either  in 
the  form  of  nitrogen— nourishment — or  as  respiratory  and 
heat-producing.  If  alcohol  were  hurtful  in  the  time  when  its 
pretended  power  to  benefit  was  most  required,  if  then  it  not 
only  failed  but  destroyed,  how  can  there  be  the  slightest  pre- 
tense that  it  possesses  such  powers  at  all?  The  experience  of 
armies,  expeditions,  and  individuals,  is  all  to  the  same  effect. 

Gen.  Greely,  whose  Arctic  expedition,  the  most  famous  of 
any  of  modern  times  on  account  of  the  sufferings,  fortitude 
and  heroism  of  those  engaged  in  it,  not  only  declares  that  alco- 
hol failed  utterly  as  a generator  of  heat,  but  also  of  vitality ; 
and  in  an  invaluable  article  in  the  Forum,  just  issued,  attests 
that  powers  of  endurance  not  alone  of  cold,  but  of  all  labor 
and  hardship,  are  injured  by  the  use  of  alcohol.  This  truth  is 
attested  also  by  the  fact  that  in  training  for  all  athletic  exercises 
liquors  are  carefully  prohibited.  These  men  know  their  busi- 
ness. Dr.  N.  S.  Davis,  of  Chicago,  proved  as  long  ago  as  1850 
that  during  the  digestion  of  all  kinds  of  food  the  temperature 
of  the  body  increased,  but  that  either  distilled  or  fermented 
liquors  reduced  the  temperature  within  half  an  hour,  and  that 
the  depressing  process  continued  several  hours,  and  was  just  in 
proportion  to  the  quantity  taken.  Drs.  Prout,  Hammond, 
Smith,  Richardson,  and  a great  many  others,  have  demon- 
strated the  same  facts.  In  some  cases,  perhaps,  as  probably 
in  that  of  Liebig,  the  professional  men,  like  the  laity,  have 
been  deceived  by  the  instant  flush  and  surface  heat,  the  effect 
of  the  partial  paralysis  of  the  minute  blood-vessels,  and  the 
consequent  flow  of  blood  to  the  point  where  the  influence  of 
the  irritant  is  first  felt.  Dr.  Markham,  in  summing  up  a long 
discussion  on  alcohol  in  the  British  Medical  Journal  said  : 
"Alcohol  is  not  a supporter  of  combustion.  Part,  probably 
the  whole  of  it,  escapes  from  the  body  ; and  none  of  it,  so  far 
as  we  know,  is  assimilated.  It  is  therefore  not  a food  in  the 
eye  of  science.” 

But  there  is  a theory  precious  to  many,  that  in  some  way 
alcohol  aids  digestion  ; but  the  verdict  of  medical  science  is 
that  so  far  from  aiding  it  retards,  and  if  used  in  large  quanti- 


84 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


ties  prevents  digestion  wholly.  Drs.  Todd  and  Bowman  say 
that  the  use  of  alcoholic  stimulants  retards  digestion  by  coag- 
ulating the  pepsin,  which  is  the  most  important  ingredient  of 
the  gastric  juice,  and  were  it  not  that  wine,  spirits,  etc.,  are 
rapidly  absorbed,  their  introduction  in  any  quantity  would  be 
a complete  bar  to  the  digestion  of  food,  as  the  pepsin  would 
be  precipitated  from  the  solution  as  quickly  as  it  is  formed.” 
Dr.  Dundas  Thompson  says  : "This  is  a remarkable  fact,  that 
when  alcohol  is  added,  to  the  digestive  fluid  it  produces  a white 
precipitate,  so  that  the  fluid  is  no  longer  capable  of  digesting 
animal  or  vegetable  food.”  Dr.  Monroe  proved  this  by  a series 
of  experiments  recorded  in  "Physiological  Action  of  Alcohol.” 
London,  1865.  He  showed  clearly  that  alcoholics  destroy 
the  solvent  power  of  the  gastric  juice  and  prevent  digestion, 
and  that  even  pale  ale,  with  5 or  6 per  cent,  of  alcohol,  does 
not  aid  digestion.  If  it  destroys  the  gastric  juice  which  dis- 
solves the  food,  how  can  it  help  digestion?  Going  over  the 
whole  subject,  citing  and  reviewing  numerous  authorities,  Dr. 
Hargreaves  concludes  it  to  be  "very  evident  that  alcoholic 
beverages  do  not  and  cannot  aid  digestion,  but  retard  and  pre- 
vent the  solution  of  alimentary  substances.” 

Liebig  himself  says  that  "wine  is  superfluous  to  man 

It  is  constantly  followed  b}r  an  expenditure  of  power.”  Drs. 
Virchow  and  Boecker  agree  that  "alcohol  poisons  the  blood, 
arrests  development  and  hastens  the  decay  of  the  red  corpus- 
cles,” and  decreases  vitality.  Prof.  Schultz,  Dr.  Beale,  Dr. 
Williams,  Dr.  Parkes,  all  great  men,  sa}r  the  same.  Dr.  Benj. 
Brodie  says:  "Stimulants  do  not  create  nerve  power,  they 
merely  enable  you  to  use  up,  as  it  were  what  is  left.”  Lalle- 
mand  and  Perrin  say  alcohol  lessens  muscular  force. 

But  such  citations  from  the  most  eminent  men  in  the  profes- 
sion can  be  made  without  limit,  and  I close  the  chapter. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


ALCOHOL  THE  CAUSE  OF  DISEASE. 


Alcohol  the  Cause  of  Disease  — Alcohol  Attacks  the  Integrity  of  the 
Body  through  the  Blood  — Dr.  Dickinson’s  Account  of  the  Disease  it 
Fosters— -The  Ally  of  Cholera— Recollections  of  the  Cholera  Epidemic 
in  New  York,  1832 — Dr.  Beaumont’s  Experiments — Striking  Illustra- 
tion of  the  Effects  of  Drink — The  Drunkard’s  Stomach,  Reproduced  in 
Colors — The  Curse  of  Intemperance  transmitted  to  Posterity— Startling 
Facts  from  Experience— The  History  of  Four  Generations  of  a Family 
of  Drunkards — The  Causes  of  Insanity — Intemperance  Leading  them 


All. 


LCOHOL  attacks  the  blood  and  consequently  the  integ- 


r\  rity  of  every  tissue  and  living  atom  of  the  body.  It 
follows  that  its  use  must  produce  disease  of  every  organ  and 
part  of  the  frame.  In  a work  like  this  it  is  impossible  and 
unnecessary  to  attempt  the  enumeration  of  the  infinite  variety 
of  diseases  of  which  alcohol  is  the  cause,  and  much  already  ap- 
pears in  citations  from  eminent  authorities.  But  I will  insert 
the  following  from  a paper  read  by  Dr.  W.  Dickinson  before 
the  RoatiI  Medical  and  Chirurgical  Society,  October  22,  1872, 
the  subject  being  "The  Morbid  Effects  of  Alcohol 

Alcohol  causes  fatty  infiltration  and  fibroid  encroachment ; it  en- 
genders tubercles  ; encourages  suppuration  and  retards  healing ; 
it  produces  untimely  atheroma,  invites  hemorrhage  and  anticipates 
age.  The  most  constant  fatty  changes,  replacement  by  oil  of  the 
material  of  epithelial  cells  and  muscular  fibers,  though  probably 
nearly  universal,  is  most  noticeable  in  the  liver,  the  heart  and  the 
kidneys.  The  fibroid  increase  occurs  about  vascular  channels  and 
superficial  investments  of  the  viscera,  where  it  causes  atrophy,  cir- 
rhosis and  granulation.  Of  this  change  the  liver  has  the  largest 
share  ; the  lungs  are  often  similarly  but  less  simply  affected,  the 
change  being  variously  complicated  with,  or  simulative  of  tubercle  ; 
the  kidneys  suffer  in  a more  remote  degree. 

Alcohol  also  causes  vascular  deteriorations,  which  are  akin  both 
to  the  fatty  and  the  fibroid.  Besides  tangible  atheroma,  there  are 
minute  changes  in  the  arterial  walls,  which  of  themselves  induce 


86 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


cardiac  hypertrophy  and  cerebral  hemorrhage.  Drink  causes  tuber- 
culosis, which  is  evident  not  only  in  the  lungs,  but  in  every  amen- 
able organ.  Drink  promotes  the  suppurative  at  the  expense  of 
the  adhesive  process,  as  seen  in  the  results  of  pneumonia,  of  serious 
inflammations  and  of  accidental  injuries.  Descending  from  gen- 
eral conditions  to  the  individual  organs,  the  effect  of  alcohol  upon 
the  nervous  system  must  be  looked  upon  as  special  and  taken  by 
itself.  Apart  from  the  changes  which,  like  delirium  tremens,  are 
more  evident  during  life  than  after  death,  the  brain  pays  a large 
reckoning  in  the  shape  of  inflammation,  atrophy  and  hemorrhage. 
With  regard  to  the  other  organs,  they  are  damaged  by  alcohol, 
much  as  they  stand  in  its  line  of  absorption. 

Next  to  the  stomach,  the  liver  suffers,  by  way  of  cirrhosis  and 
fatty  impregnation.  Next  the  stress  falls  upon  the  lungs,  taking 
every  shape  of  phthisis.  A large  share  in  the  pathology  of  intem- 
perance is  also  taken  by  the  arterial  system,  as  seen  in  its  results  : 
atheroma,  cardiac  hypertrophy  and  hemorrhage.  Lastly  the  kid- 
neys, more  remotely  exposed,  have  small  participation  in  the  com- 
mon damage  of  alcoholism.  They  undergo  congestive  enlargement, 
fatty  and  fibroid  change,  but  they  do  not  suffer  commensurately 
with  the  blood-vessels,  or  as  frequently  as  the  other  viscera. 

Nor  does  there  appear  to  be  power  in  alcohol  to  prevent 
disease  in  any  known  case.  It  has  been  said  that  it  would 
prevent  cholera,  but  Dr.  Jameson  sa}'s  in  his  treatise  on  that 
dread  disease  : " His  great  love  is  for  drunkards  and  the  high 
fed.”  In  fact  alcohol  predisposes  the  system  to  the  disease. 
Prof.  Mackintosh  says  that  five  sixths  of  all  who  have  fallen 
by  cholera  in  England  were  persons  of  intemperate  and  disso- 
lute habits. 

Dr.  Mussev  said  that  if  he  must  drink  any  quantity  of 
alcohol  in  a specified  time  he  should  think  it  best  to  take  it  in 
distilled  liquors  rather  than  cider,  wine  or  beer,  and  that  on 
the  Ohio  river  the  increase  of  brandy  drinking  consequent 
upon  the  approach  of  cholera  has  been  frightful,  and  the 
mortality  on  board  terrible  and  unprecedented.  One  boat 
lost  43,  another  47,  and  a third  59  of  its  passengers  and  crew.” 
Dr.  Adams,  Professor  of  the  Institute  of  Medicine  in  the 
Anderson  University  of  Glasgow,  says  that  of  his  intemperate 
cholera  patients  91.1-  percent,  died.  "I  have  found  the  use 
of  alcoholic  drinks  to  be  a great  disposing  cause  of  malignant 

cholera T would  placard  every  spirit  shop  in  town 

with  these  words  : "cholera  sold  here.” 


Dli.  BEAUMONT’S  OBSERVATIONS. 


87 


The  authorities  are  legion  to  the  same  effect. 

On  the  other  hand  total  abstinence  prevents  cholera.  From 
the  statistics  of  the  disease  in  1832  in  New  York,  out  of  5,000 
members  of  temperance  societies  only  two  died  ; in  several  of 
the  societies  none  whatever.  In  New  Orleans  the  proportion 
of  deaths  to  population  was  15  to  1,000;  of  those  belong- 
ing to  temperance  organizations  only  2.5  in  1,000,  and  the 
statistics'  are  substantially  the  same  in  Scotland,  England, 
India,  and  in  all  countries.  Dr.  Hargreaves,  with  his  usual 
marvelous  care,  goes  over  the  subject  and  thus  gives  the  con- 
clusion of  the  whole  matter  : " There  is  not  a disease  we  are 

satisfied  but  what  may  be  aggravated  by  alcohol,  and  we  are 
equally  satisfied  that  total  abstinence  from  alcoholics,  and 
temperance  in  all  things  are  the  only  preventives  of  disease. ” 

The  stomach  and  entire  digestive  apparatus  are  specially 
subject  to  injury  by  use  of  alcohol  because  it  acts  like  a 
poison,  searing  and  corroding  the  soft  vascular  tissues  and 
surfaces  of  which  these  organs  are  composed.  Its  use  is  a 
perpetual  cauterization  of  parts  which  no  more  require  such 
treatment  than  the  healthy  eyeball,  and  it  does  not  lessen 
the  injury  that  it  goes  on  within,  among  the  hidden  processes 
of  life. 

The  recorded  observations  of  Dr.  Beaumont,  made  daily  for 
years,  of  the  interior  of  the  stomach  of  Alexis  St.  Martin  are 
of  peculiar  value,  as  St.  Martin’s  case  was  the  only  like  oppor- 
tunity ever  afforded  to  the  human  eye.  St.  Martin  was  a 
French  Canadian  soldier,  who  was  shot  in  the  stomach  while 
on  guard  duty  in  the  American  service  at  Michilimackinac,  in 
the  year  1822.  Dr.  William  Beaumont,  surgeon  of  the  post, 
dressed  the  wound,  but  in  healing,  an  aperture  was  left  through 
which,  by  pushing  the  parts  aside,  the  interior  and  walls  of  the 
stomach  and  the  process  of  digestion  were  visible.  Dr. 
Beaumont  seized  the  opportunity  and  immortalized  both  his 
patient  and  himself.  St.  Martin  married,  had  a large  family 
and  lived  to  a good  old  age.  Dr.  Beaumont  prepared  him  a 
pad  or  compress  for  the  aperture  in  the  stomach,  which  served 
him  so  wrell,  that  he  was  able  not  only  to  get  on  with  the 
necessary  processes  of  digestion,  but  to  indulge  in  a tendency 
to  convivial  habits  quite  as  frequently  as  was  beneficial  to 
himself.  It,  however,  gave  the  vigilant  doctor  an  opportunity 


88 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


to  describe  the  effects  of  alcohol  upon  this  organ,  whose  func- 
tion is  the  foundation  of  life,  and  thus  to  turn  the  excesses  of 
his  subject  into  authentic  and  indisputable  sources  of  warning 
to  others.  Dr.  Beaumont  published  a book  in  which  he 
recorded  " thousands  of  his  experiments  and  observations,” 
from  which  I take  the  following,  calling  attention  to  the  fact 
that  this  was  before  the  "temperance  craze,”  and  the  work  can 
not  be  impeached  as  that  of  a temperance  " crank.” 

He  says  of  " Experiments  and  Observations  on  the  Gastric 
Juice  and  Physiology  of  Digestion,”  referring  to  observations 
on  St.  Martin : 

July  8th,  9 o’clock  a.  m.  Stomach  empty  ; not  healthy  ; some  in- 
flammation with  ulcerous  patches  on  mucous  surface.  St.  Martin  been 
drinking  freely  for  eight  or  ten  days  ; complains  of  no  pain,  nor 
shows  symptoms  of  any  general  indisposition  ; says  he  feels  well, 
and  has  a good  appetite.  August  1st,  8 o’clock,  a.  m.  Examined 
stomach  before  eating  anything  ; inner  membrane  morbid,  consider- 
able inflammation,  and  some  ulcerous  patches  on  the  exposed  sur- 
face, secretions  vitiated.  Extracted  about  an  ounce  of  gastric 
juice,  not  clear  and  pure  as  in  health  ; quite  viscid.  August  2d, 
8 o’clock,  a.  m.  Circumstances  and  appearances  very  similar  to  those 
of  yesterday  morning.  Extracted  an  ounce  of  gastric  juice,  con- 
sisting of  unusual  proportion  of  vitiated  mucus,  saliva,  and  some 
bile,  tinged  slightly  with  blood,  appearing  to  exude  from  the  surface 
of  the  inflammation,  and  ulcerous  patches,  which  were  more  tender 
and  irritable  than  usual.  St.  Martin  complains  of  no  pain. 

August  3d,  7 o’clock,  a.  m.  Inner  membrane  of  stomach 
unusually  morbid  ; inflammatory  appearance  more  extensive,  and 
(ulcerous)  spots  more  livid  ; from  the  surface  of  some  of  which 
exuded  small  drops  of  grumous  (or  thick,  clotty)  blood. 

The  ulcerous  patches  larger  and  numerous  ; the  mucous  covering 
(the  thin  sensitive  lining  membrane)  thicker  than  common  ; and  the 
gastric  secretion  much  more  vitiated.  The  gastric  fluids  extracted 
this  morning  were  mixed  with  large  proportions  of  thick,  ropy 
mucus,  and  considerable  muco-purulent  matter,  slightly  tinged  with 
.blood,  and  resembling  the  discharge  from  the  bowels  in  some  cases 
of  chronic  dysentery.  Notwithstanding  this  diseased  appearance 
of  the  stomach,  no  very  essential  aberration  of  its  functions  was 
manifested.  St.  Martin  complains  of  no  symptoms  indicating  any 
general  derangement  of  the  system,  except  an  uneasy  sensation  and 
a tenderness  at  the  pit  of  the  stomach,  and  some  vertigo,  with  dim- 
ness and  yellowness  of  vision,  on  stooping  and  rising  again  ; has  a 


THE  HRUNKAKH’S  STOMACH. 


89 


thin  yellowish  brown  coat  on  his  tongue,  and  the  countenance  is 
rather  sallow. 

August  4th,  8 o’clock,  a.  m.  Stomach  empty  ; less  of  those 
ulcerous  patches  than  yesterday  ; inflammatory  appearances  more 
extensively  diffused  over  the  inner  coats,  and  the  surface  inclined 
to  bleed  ; secretions  vitiated.  Extracted  about  an  ounce  of  gastric 
fluids,  consisting  of  ropy  mucus,  some  bile  and  less  of  muco-puru- 
lent  matter  than  yesterday  ; odor  peculiarly  fetid  and  disagreeable.” 

August  5th,  8 o’clock,  a.  m.  Stomach  empty  ; coats  less  morbid 
than  yesterday,  mucus  more  uniform,  soft  and  nearly  of  the 
natural  healthy  color  ; secretions  less  vitiated.  Extracted  about  an 
ounce  of  gastric  fluids  ; more  clear  and  pure  than  that  taken  four 
or  five  days  past,  and  slightly  acid,  but  containing  a larger  quantity 
of  mucus  and  more  opaque  than  usual  in  a healthy  condition. 

August  6th,  8 o’clock,  a.  m.  Stomach  empty ; coats  clear  and 
healthy  as  usual ; secretions  less  vitiated.  Extracted  two  ounces 
of  gastric  fluids  of  more  natural  and  healthy  appearance,  with  the 
usual  gastric  acid  flavor ; complains  of  no  uneasy  sensations  or 
the  slightest  symptoms  of  indisposition  ; says  he  feels  well,  and  has 
a voracious  appetite  ; but  not  permitted  to  indulge  it  to  satiety.  He 
has  been  restricted  from  full,  and  confined  to  low,  diet,  and  simple 
diluent  drinks,  for  the  last  four  days,  and  has  not  been  allowed  to 
take  any  stimulating  liquors,  or  to  indulge  in  excesses  of  any  kind. 

These  morbid  changes  and  conditions  are  seldom  indicated  by 
any  ordinary  symptoms,  or  particular  sensations  described  or  com- 
plained of,  unless  when  in  considerable  excess.  It  is  interesting  to 
observe  to  what  extent  the  stomach,  perhaps  the  most  important 
organ  of  the  animal  system,  may  become  diseased  without  manifest- 
ing any  external  symptoms  of  such  disease.  Vitiated  secretions 
may  also  take  place,  and  continue  for  some  time  without  affecting 
the  health  in  a sensible  degree. 

These  observations  of  Dr.  Beaumont  are  universally  cited 
by  the  profession.  They  are  to  be  found  in  Dr.  Hargreaves’ 
" Alcohol  and  Science.”  Dr.  Hargreaves  makes  the  following 
remark  upon  them  and  further  citation  from  Dr.  Beaumont : 

Too  high  a value  cannot  be  placed  upon  these  observations  of 
Dr.  Beaumont,  as  they  are  ocular  demonstrations,  actual  views  of 
the  stomach,  from  day  to  day,  for  years  ; the  actual  observations 
in  health  and  disease  ; the  effects  of  the  various  foods  and  drinks 
upon  the  stomach.”  He  says  clearly  and  distinctly  : 

“ The  free  use  of  ardent  spirits,  wine,  beer  or  any  of  the  intoxicat- 
ing liquors,  when  continued  for  some  days,  has  constantly  pro- 
duced morbid  changes.”  It  is  not  “ ardent  spirits  ” alone  that  pro- 


90 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


duce  these  morbid  changes  ; but  even  “ wine  and  beer.”  Nor  are 
these  changes  indicated  by  any  ordinary  symptoms,  or  particular 
sensations  described  or  complained  of,  unless  when  in  considerable 
excess.  They  could  not,  in  fact,  have  been  anticipated  by  any 
external  symptoms,  and  their  existence  was  only  ascertained  by 
ocular  demonstrations. 

As  a further  illustration  of  the  effect  of  alcohol  upon  the 
stomach,  the  plates  prepared  by  Dr.  Sewell,  Professor  of 
Pathology  and  Practice  of  Medicine  in  the  Columbia  College, 
District  of  Columbia,  "being  the  result  of  a professional 
career  of  upwards  of  thirty  years.”  are  inserted.  During 
this  long  term  Dr.  Sewell  had  many  opportunities  to  inspect 
the  stomachs  of  drunkards  after  death,  in  the  various  stages 
and  degrees  of  drunkenness,  and  had  these  plates  prepared  to 
represent,  with  accuracy,  some  of  the  morbid  changes  which 
take  place  in  the  stomach  from  alcoholic  intemperance.  Their 
great  importance  must  not  be  overlooked.  They  are  not  idle 
school-boy  pictures,  drawn  chiefly  to  show  their  own  paint. 
They  are  the  pains-taking  work  of  an  able  and  conscientious 
pathologist  and  eminent  instructor  in  his  profession.  The 
written  record  of  volumes  is  here  condensed  upon  a single 
page. 

The  first  illustration  is  of  the  perfectly  healthy  stomach,  and 
is  drawn  by  Prof.  Horner,  of  Philadelphia,  with  great  care 
from  a remarkably  good  subject. 

The  second  illustration  exhibits  the  internal  surface  of  the 

stomach  of  the  temperate  drinker Here  the  work 

of  destruction  begins. 

The  third  represents  the  stomach  of  the  confirmed  drunk- 
ard   The  mucous  coat  becomes  thickened  and 

softened,  which  often  produces  ulceration. 

The  fourth  illustration  presents  a view  of  the  ulcerated  or 
apthous  condition  of  the  drunkard’s  stomach. 

The  fifth  illustration  represents  the  state  of  the  drunkard’s 
stomach  after  a debauch.  It  was  drawn  from  the  stomach  of 
one  who  had  been  for  several  days  in  a state  of  inebriation, 
but  who  came  to  his  death  suddenly  from  another  cause. 

The  sixth  explains  itself. 

I also  insert  plate  of  the  cancerous  stomach  produced  by 
drinking  alcohol.  It  was  drawn  from  the  stomach  of  one 


Dr.  N.  S.  Davis 


INSANITV  AND  INTEMPERANCE. 


91 


who  never  drank  to  excess,  but  who  died  from  cancer  of  the 
stomach,  induced  by  moderate  drinking,  at  the  age  of  thirty 
years.  He  appears  to  have  been  a perfect  gentleman. — 
"None  knew  him  but  to  love  him,  none  named  him  but  to 
praise.” 

The  liver  secretes  bile,  which  is  indispensable  to  digestion 
and  renews  the  blood,  each  drop  of  which  passes  through  it 
every  two  minutes.  Such  is  this  inscrutable  mechanical  mys- 
tery within  us.  When  the  liver  is  wrong  nothing  is  right. 
Alcohol  eats  up  the  liver,  vitiates  its  structure,  softens  it  to 
suppuration,  fills  it  with  tubercles  and  ulcerations,  destroys  it 
as  would  the  envenomed  tooth  of  the  moccasin.  I can  only 
insert  these  plates  prepared  by  science  and  art,  and  from  sub- 
jects taken  not  from  real  life,  but  from  real  death. 

The  kidneys  eliminate  the  larger  portion  of  the  poisonous 
nitrogenous  waste  from  the  system.  When  their  function  is 
interrupted  the  blood  absorbs  the  uric  poison  and  every  organ 
sutlers.  Alcohol  produces,  with  all  the  rest,  Bright's  disease 
— albuminaria — and  is  the  most  prolific  cause  of  disease  to  this 
organ,  the  derangement  of  which  is  so  replete  with  misery 
and  death. 

Again  I appeal  to  the  plates,  which  speak  so  eloquently  to 
the  eye. 

Dr.  N.  S.  Davis  of  Chicago  says  : 

The  fatt}7  degenerations  of  the  liver,  heart,  kidneys,  etc.,  etc., 
are  the  result  of  the  slow,  long-continued,  moderate  influence  of  alco- 
hol in  retarding  the  oxidation  of  the  carbonaceous  matters  of  the 
system  and  allowing  it  to  accumulate  in  the  form  of  inert  fat ; while 
the  acute  gastro-duodenitis  is  the  result  of  the  direct  irritating  influ- 
ences  of  strong  distilled  spirits  taken  in  large  quantities,  without 
ordinary  food. 

AATe  have  repeatedly  noted  the  fact  that  alcohol  has  a pecul- 
iar avidity  for  the  brain,  an  appetite  as  it  were  for  its  very 
substance.  It  seems  strange  that  a man  " should  take  an  enemy 
within  to  steal  away  his  brain,”  but  so  it  is,  and  nothing  indi- 
cates its  canny  and  devilish  nature  as  does  the  rage,  by  which 
it  seems  to  be  possessed,  to  strike  home  upon  this  organ  of  the 
mental  and  moral,  as  well  as  of  the  physical  nature.  It  ousts 
the  soul  from  the  possession  of  its  own  homestead.  As  I con- 
template this  feature  in  its  character,  I confess  to  a supersti- 


92 


TIIE  TEMPERANCE  .MOVEMENT. 


tious  questioning  whether  it  be  notun  actual  infernal  thin",  or 
being,  rather,  more  than  a mere  substance,  an  entity  like 
Satan,  diffused  in  the  form  of  liquid,  as  the  malicious  genii  of 
Arabia  escaping  from  confinement,  dissolved  and  expanded  in 
heavy  vapors  before  the  eye. 

Certainly  there  is  no  conceivable  derangement  or  disease  of 
the  brain  and  nervous  system  which  alcohol  does  not  originate 
or  aggravate.  Here  is  a partial  list : " Cerebral  congestions, 
cerebral  hemorrhage  with  apoplexy,  and  paralysis,  meningeal 
apoplexy,  cerebral  thrombosis,  softening  of  the  brain,  apha- 
sia, acute  cerebral  meningitis,  chronic  meningitis,  and  all 
kinds  of  insanity ; and  among  diseases  of  the  spinal  cord  are 
spinal  congestion,  anterolateral  spinal  sclerosis,  and  posterior 
spinal  sclerosis  ; epilepsy,  palsy,  neuralgia,  chorea,  and  many 
other  affections  of  the  brain  and  spinal  cord.” 

If  anything  could  add  horror  to  some  of  these  diseases  it  is 
the  dreadful  names  they  are  called  by.  Between  the  diseases 
themselves  and  the  names  the  doctors  give  to  them  poor  suf- 
fering humanity  is  doubly  afflicted.  It  would  be  some  relief  if 
" prohibition  ” could  abolish  " cerebral  thrombosis  ” and  " ante- 
rolateral spinal  sclerosis,”  even  if  we  continued  to  die  of  blood 
clot  in  the  brain.  Dr.  Macnish  says  that  in  seven  cases  out  of 
ten,  malt  liquor  drunkards  die  of  apoplexy  or  palsy.  They 
may  not  be  drunkards,  but  merely  use  large  quantities  daily 
of  ale  or  beer.  Many  persons  of  both  sexes  are  paralyzed  by 
the  use  of  strong  drink.  The  paralysis,  total  or  partial,  of  the 
lower  part  of  the  body  and  limbs  from  this  cause  is  very  com- 
mon with  both  sexes. 

Insanity  is  a natural  result  of  intemperance,  and  it  is  agreed 
that  a great  proportion  of  all  that  exists  is  produced  by  alco- 
hol. Directly  and  indirectly,  probably  at  least  one  half  of  the 
insanity  of  the  civilized  world  is  traceable  to  its  use.  Dr. 
Hargreaves  is. ''  strongly  impressed  with  the  belief  that  the 
intemperate  and  (so  called)  temperate  use  of  alcoholic  drinks 
produce  more  insanity  than  all  else  combined,  excepting  hered- 
itary predisposition,  and  hereditary  predisposition  is  often  a 
result  of  the  same  cause.”  Lord  Shaftsbury,  in  his  evidence 
before  the  Select  Committee  on  Lunatics  in  1859,  expressed 
the  opinion  that  50  per  cent,  of  the  cases  admitted  into  the 
English  asylum  are  due  to  drink.  Dr.  Poole  fixes  the  pro- 


HEREDITARY  DRUNKARDS. 


93 


portion  at  25  per  cent.  Dr.  Needham,  of  the  New  York  Luna- 
tic Asylum  for  both  sexes,  fixed  the  proportion  in  that  asylum 
at  16  per  cent.  ; of  men  alone  at  22  per  cent.  In  France,  dur- 
ing the  war  with  Prussia,  the  effect  of  alcohol  in  producing 
insanity  was  remarkable.  Fifty-five  per  cent,  of  the  cases  ad- 
mitted to  the  asylum  in  May,  1871,  were  from  that  cause  alone. 
Dr.  Herman  read  a paper  before  the  St.  Petersburg  Medical 
Society  in  which  he  says  that  in  St.  Petersburg  " brandy  shops 
have  increased  seven-fold  since  1859,  and  are  now  in  the  pro- 
portion of  one  to  every  293  persons.  In  the  budget  for  1866, 
the  brandy-tax  for  the  entire  empire  was  115,500,000  silver 
rubles.  The  government  and  individuals  made  attempts  to 
limit  the  use  of  brandy  ; but  they  have  hitherto  yielded  to  the 
resistance  of  the  masses,  and  the  danger  of  damaging  the  rev- 
enue.  One  consequence  of  this  increased  consumption  of 
brandy  is  the  increase  in  the  number  of  acute  cases  of  delirium 
tremens  admitted  into  the  St.  Petersburg  hospitals. 

"During  the  five  years,  1861-5,  there  were  treated,  in  five 
hospitals,  3,241  cases  of  delirium  tremens,  2,721  males  and 
420  females  ; the  mortality  from  this  disease  in  the  different 
hospitals  was  from  7.73  to  16.62  per  cent.  After  the  trade  in 
liquors  was  thrown  open,  in  1863,  delirium  tremens  became 
double  in  some  hospitals,  and  in  others  three  and  fourfold.” 

Of  286  persons  in  the  lunatic  asylum  of  Dublin  115  were 
known  to  have  been  intemperate,  and  alcohol  the  cause  of  their 
affliction. 

Of  patients  in  the  lunatic  asylum  of  Liverpool  257  of  495 
were  known  to  have  been  made  insane  by  drinking.  Boyle 
says  ardent  spirits  caused  one  third  of  the  cases  of  insanity  he 
has  observed.  Dr.  Shepard,  in  a letter  to  the  London  Times, 
that  35  or  40  per  cent,  of  insanity  results  directly  or  indirectly 
from  intoxicating  drinks. 

I take  the  following  summary  from  Dr.  Hargreave,  p.  269, 
Alcohol  and  Science. 

After  quoting  from  the  reports  of  the  superintendents  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Hospital  for  the  Insane,  the  Massachusetts 
State  Hospital  at  Worcester,  and  the  Bloomingdale  Asylum, 
New  York,  the  nine  principal  causes  of  insanity,  he  says 
that 

More  than  9 per  cent,  of  all  the  cases  of  insanity  in  those  three 


94 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


institutions  is  directly  caused  by  intemperance.  To  merely  take 
into  consideration  the  cases  given  in  the  reports  as  being  thus 
caused,  we  shall  not  arrive  at  anything  like  an  approximate  esti- 
mate of  the  number ; for  the  friends  will  in  most  cases  strive  to 
keep  out  of  sight,  if  possible,  the  drinking  habits  of  the  subjects 
of  insanity.  Then  again  the  habits  of  an  individual  may  not  be 
what  is  generally  called  intemperate,  yet  he  may  be  so  continually 
under  the  influence  of  alcoholic  drinks  that  the  nervous  and  vital 
forces  are  so  depressed  and  injured  that  some  very  slight  circum- 
stance, embraced  under  some  one  cf  the  other  causes  of  insanity, 
may  produce  mental  alienation , and  the  causes  may  be  given  as 
being  “ill-health,”  “loss  of  property,”  etc.,  etc.,  while  in  reality 
it  was  alcohol. 

The  loss  of  property,  and  other  reverses  of  fortune,  are  often  the 
result  of  intemperance.  Hence  the  difficulty,  amounting  almost  to 
impossibility,  of  arriving  at  the  real  cause  of  insanity. 

Taking  into  consideration  all  the  surrounding  circumstances 
attending  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks,  and  the  essential  nature  of 
alcohol,  it  will  be  safe  to  say  that  one  half  of  the  cases  ascribed  to 
ill-health,  or  16  per  cent.,  and  one  half  of  the  cases  of  domestic 
trouble,  or  5 per  cent.,  are  directly  or  indirectly  chargeable  to  alco- 
holic drinks ; then  the  cases  of  insanity  due  directly  or  indirectly 
to  intoxicating  liquors  will  be  9 per  cent,  directly  from  intemper- 
ance ; 16  per  cent,  from  ill-health,  and  domestic  trouble,  5 per 
cent.,  or  a total  of  not  less  than  30  per  cent.,  or  from  11.229  to 
14,389  insane  persons  in  the  United  States  whose  afflictions  are 
directly  or  indirectl}7  due  to  the  use  of  alcohol. 

This  is  evidently  no  exaggeration,  for  it  is  much  below  the  general 
average  in  other  countries  under  similar  circumstances  of  race, 
habits,  etc. 

Close  observers  of  high  authority,  fix  the  proportion  of 
insane  in  the  United  States,  made  so  by  the  direct  influence 
of  liquor,  at  twenty  per  cent.,  and  by  its  indirect  influence  at 
thirty-five  per  cent. — or  fifty-five  per  cent,  of  the  whole.  But 
the  conservative  and  reliable  tendency  of  Dr.  Ilargreuve's  mind 
is  well  known,  and  hence  his  compilations  of  statistical  matter 
upon  alcoholism  justly  command  the  confidence  of  intelligent 
men  almost  as  fully  as  the  work  of  official  authority. 

The  sins  of  the  fathers  and  mothers  are  visited  upon  the 
children,  and  those  who  will  impair  their  physical,  mental  and 
moral  constitution  by  contracting  and  practicing  any  vice  in 
justice  to  those  who  are  yet  to  be  and  who  are  without  agency 


CAUSES  OF  INSANITY. 


95 


in  procuring  their  own  existence,  should  be  restrained  from 
the  family  relation  by  law,  and  by  the  still  more  efficient  pro- 
hibition of  social  ostracism.  It  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  a 
more  hideous  crime  than  that  which  fastens  upon  unborn  inno- 
cence during  successive  generations  the  pains  and  penalties  of 
outraged  natural  laws.  It  often  would  be  a mercy  to  the  help- 
less victim,  and  a wise  regulation  for  the  general  good,  if  the 
children  of  diseased  and  vicious  parents  could  be  destroyed 
under  careful  regulations  of  the  State.  But  our  ideas  of  the 
sanctity  of  human  life,  even  before  it  is  coupled  with  intelli- 
gence and  responsibility,  will  not  permit  the  practice  of  this 
ancient  heathen  mercy — I had  almost  said  virtue — but  which, 
with  our  knowledge  of  remedy  by  the  observance  of  natural 
laws,  would  be  a crime.  It  becomes  a crime  on  the  part  of 
society,  which  has  not  only  the  right  but  the  duty  to  protect 
the  children  who  are  to  be  the  State,  to  permit  the  indiscrim- 
inate multiplication  of  a progeny  which,  by  the  immutable 
laws  of  God,  now  thoroughly  revealed  in  observation  and  his- 
tory, and  so  made  a part  of  the  common  knowledge  of  all, 
must  inherit  disease,  insanity,  idiocy,  pain  and  wicked  tend- 
ency. The  truth  and  propriety  of  these  propositions  will 
hardly  be  questioned.  Yet  the  general  disregard  of  them  in 
practice  is  conspicuous.  It  can  only  be  accounted  for  by  the 
very  fact  of  that  generality. 

Alcoholism,  that  it  might  want  no  feature  of  hurtful  power, 
transmits  its  every  curse  to  posterity,  and  we  find  the  world 
full  of  helpless  sufferers  of  pain,  and  criminals  ravaging  society 
from  the  irresistible  force  of  hereditary  taint.  Look  at  Jesse 
Pomeroy — one  of  many.  Here  is  the  most  horrible  part  of 
the  whole  infernal  business.  The  liquor  trade  would  be  com- 
paratively a pious  work,  or  at  least  an  innocent  recreation,  if 
it  were  done  when  the  voluntary  victim  is  dead  and — perhaps 
worse  than  dead.  But  it  strikes  through  the  parent  into  the 
child,  and  transmits  virus  instead  of  life.  If  prohibition  of 
the  traffic  were  made  absolute  to-day,  and  strictly  enforced, 
it  would  be  centuries  before  the  human  race  could  throw  out 
and  off  the  effects  of  these  generations  of  vileness  which  now 
rest  upon  us  with  all  their  cumulative  force. 

Aristotle  tells  us  that  a drunken  woman  brings  forth  child- 


90 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


ren  like  herself,  and  we  know  that  the  Greeks  forbade  the  use 
of  wine  to  women. 

Plutarch  says  that  "one  drunkard  begets  another,”  and  it 
has  become  a proverb  that  "like  begets  like.”  Intelligent  stock 
breeders  would  know  what  to  do  with  drunken  animals  if  there 
were  animals  so  degraded  as  to  be  drunken — and  they  were 
liable  to  perpetuate  their  kind. 

M.  Morel,  a distinguished  French  writer,  gives  the  history 
of  four  generations  of  a family  : First  Generation — The 
father  was  an  habitual  drunkard,  and  was  killed  in  a public- 
house  brawl.  Second  Generation — The  son  inherited  his 
father’s  habits,  which  gave  rise  to  attacks  of  mania,  terminat- 
ing in  paralysis  and  death.  Third  Generation — The  grand- 
son was  strictly  sober,  but  was  full  of  hypochondriacal  and 
imaginary  fear  of  persecutions,  etc.,  and  had  homicidal  tend- 
encies. Fourth  Generation — The  fourth  in  descent  had  very 
limited  intelligence,  and  an  attack  of  madness  when  sixteen 
years  old,  terminating  in  stupidity,  nearly  amounting  to  idiocy. 
Here  we  perceive  the  persistence  of  the  taint,  in  fact  that  not 
even  a generation  of  absolute  sobriety  will  avert  the  fatal 
issue. 

And  the  same  writer  elsewhere  says  that  he  never  saw  the 
patient  cured  of  his  propensity  whose  tendencies  to  drink 
were  given  to  him  by  his  parents.  The  following  is  upon 

good  authority  : " The  wife  of  an  amiable  clergyman  of  S , 

in  Staffordshire,  England,  was  so  addicted  to  drunkenness 
that  she  had  frequently  to  be  carried  to  bed.  Every  effort  of 
her  distressed  husband  failed  to  reclaim  her ; till  at  last  pre- 
mature death  cut  short  her  career.  She  was  the  mother  of 
three  idiotic  children.” 

Dr.  Elam  says  that  all  the  passions  appear  to  be  distinct- 


ly hereditary — anger,  fear,  jealousy,  libertinage,  gluttony, 

drunkenness, especially  if  both  parents  are  alike 

affected by  direct  constitutional  inheritance.  Dr. 

Howe  reported  to  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts  that  the 


habits  of  the  parents  of  300  idiots  had  been  learned.  One 
hundred  and  forty-five  of  them  were  known  to  be  the  children 
of  habitual  drunkards  ; and  he  estimates  that  three  fourths  of 
the  idiots  are  the  children  of  intemperate  parents.  Dr.  F.  E. 


CAUSES  OF  INSANITY. 


97 


Dr.  F.  E.  Anstie  says  : "Where  drinking  has  been  strong 
in  both  parents  I think  it  is  a physical  certainty  that  it  will 
be  traced  in  the  children.” 

The  following  is  upon  good  authority  : " The  wife  of  an 

amiable  clergyman  of  S , in  Staffordshire,  England,  was 

so  addicted  to  drunkenness  that  she  had  frequently  to  be 
carried  to  bed.  Every  effort  of  her  distressed  husband  failed 
to  reclaim  her ; till  at  last  premature  death  cut  short  her 
career.  She  was  the  mother  of  three  idiotic  children.” 

The  world  is  full  of  the  proof.  Every  mind  recalls  its 
own  well-remembered  instances. 

It  is  painful  to  dwell  upon  this,  to  me,  most  sorrowful 
aspect  of  the  liquor  crime.  Intemperance  transmits  itself 
with  the  inexorable  certainty  of  gravitation,  and  it  is  only 
by  fortunate  surroundings  or  strong  elements  of  resistance 
implanted  in  his  nature  from  other  sources,  that  the  child  or 
even  the  great-grandchild  can  escape  its  baneful  power. 

' Can  we  be  human  and  resist  this  mute  appeal  from  the 
unborn — the  wailing  voices,  the  upturned,  tearful  faces,  and 
the  cold  white  dead  of  childhood  yet  to  be  ? 

7 


CHAPTER  VII. 


ALCOHOL  AND  LENGTH  OF  LIFE 


Investigations  of  the  Subject  by  Life  Insurance  and  Provident  Associa- 
tions— Human  Life  as  a Business  Commodity  — Experience  of  the 
Great  English  Institutions — Superior  Showing  made  by  their  Temper- 
ance Sections — Cases  where  the  Premiums  are  Reduced  Ten  per  cent, 
for  Total  Abstainers — Striking  Comparisons  shown  by  Diagrams — Ex- 
perience of  the  Sons  of  Temperienee — -Mortality  among  Beer  Sellers 
— Testimony  of  Leading  Insurance  Experts — Letter  from  Chief  Medi- 
cal Examiner  Lambert  of  the  Equitable. 

HE  medical  profession  is  charged  by  every  principle  of 


I honor  and  duty  to  know  the  effect  of  alcohol  upon 
human  life  and  health  ; we  have,  therefore,  very  largely  drawn 
upon  its  facts  and  best  intelligence  already,  as  we  shall  have 
occasion  to  hereafter,  not  only  in  this  work,  but  so  long  as 
alcohol  is  an  agent  in  human  affairs.  Alcohol  in  the  form  of 
beverages  will  die  when  the  medical  profession  is  ready  to 
kill  it.  I fear  not  till  then. 

But  in  this  chapter  I wish  to  collate  facts  from  the  experi-  . 
ence  and  observation  of  institutions  which  deal  with  human  life 
as  a business  commodity,  and  whose  prosperity  depends 
upon  their  practical  and  certain  knowledge  of  the  conditions 
which  promote  or  destroy  it. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  men  endeavor  to  be  sure 
of  their  ground  before  they  put  their  money  into  it,  and  the 
knowledge  upon  which  great  institutions  act  successfully 
during  long  periods  of  time,  in  that  sharp  competition  which 
destroys  fallacy  and  all  men  and  organizations  of  men  who  do 
not  build  upon  the  everlasting  rock  of  business  truth,  is 
entitled  to  the  profoundest  respect. 

Life  insurance  and  provident  institutions  have  investigated 
the  alcohol  question,  not  from  the  stand-point  of  sentimental- 
ism, but  of  cash  earnings  and  stock  dividends,  and  in  their 
researches  and  observations  have  employed  the  highest  pro- 
fessional intelligence  and  business  accuracy.  Their  work  has 
accumulated  for  generations,  and  everything  learned  has  been 
utilized  as  so  much  increased  capital  for  further  investigation, 


98 


ADVANTAGES  FOR  ABSTAINERS. 


99 


until  now  these  organizations  regulate  their  action  in  dealing 
with  individual  men  as  much  with  reference  to  their  drinking 
habits  as  to  the  presence  or  absence  of  tendency  to  mortal 
disease.  Let  us  note  some  of  the  facts  which  have  been 
developed  by  their  experience  and  which  are  now  the  basis 
of  their  daily  action  in  affairs. 

The  United  Kingdom  Temperance  and  General  Provident 
Institution  of  London,  England,  on  the  mutual  system,  w-as 
founded  in  the  year  1840.  It  was  composed  of  total  abstainers 
from  intoxicating  drinks  until  1847,  but  in  that  year  non- 
abstainers were  admitted  to  policies  for  the  term  of  life. 

The  institution  began  in  the  year  1855  to  declare  bonuses  to 
its  policy  holders — dividing  the  surplus  of  the  two  sections' 
among  the  respective  classes  of  abstainers  and  non-abstainers.. 
The  premiums  In  each  section  are  the  same,  and  hence  the 
amount  of  these  distributions  would  fairly  indicate  the  health 
and  life  condition  of  the  members  as  affected  by  the  use  of  alco- 
hol. It  should  be  observed,  however,  that  the  comparison 
would  not  be  between  abstainers  and  the  average  of  the  com- 
munity, for  the  non-abstainers  are  always  selected  subjects 
from  whom  are  excluded  all  who  have  not  good  reason  to 
expect  long  life,  and  the  habitual  use  of  intoxicating  liquors 
to  even  slight  excess  would  be  cause  of  rejection.  In  such 
comparison  large  numbers  show  to  best  advantage,  because 
the  more  frequent  the  admission  of  fresh  members  the  less  the 
relative  apparent  mortality.  This  will  appear  from  the  fact 
that  if  no  new  members  were  admitted  from  year  to  year  the 
percentage  of  death  must  constantly  increase  until  the  last 
member  dies,  whose  single  death  would  be  100  per  cent,  of 
the  whole,  and  -would  extinguish  the  institution.  In  the  G. 
T.  and  P.  Institution  the  non-abstainers  have  for  many  years 
outnumbered  the  abstainers  in  the  proportion  of  three  to  two. 

There  have  been  five  bonuses  declared  during  the  period 
from  1850  to  1879,  inclusive. 


PERCENTAGE  BONUSES  ON  PREMIUMS  PAID. 


Temperance  Section. 


1S55,  from 

35 

to 

75 

per 

cent. 

18G0,  “ 

35 

86 

a 

44 

18G5,  “ 

23 

u 

50 

a 

44 

1870,  “ 

34 

u 

84 

u 

44 

1S75,  “ 

35 

u 

114 

44 

44 

1S80,  “ 

42 

u 

135 

44 

44 

General  Section. 


1S55.  from 

23 

to 

50 

per 

cent. 

18G0,  “ 

24 

*4 

59 

44 

44 

1SG5,  u 

17 

44 

52 

44 

44 

1S70,  “ 

20 

44 

49 

44 

44 

1S75,  “ 

20 

44 

G4 

44 

44 

1SS0,  “ 

2G 

44 

83 

44 

4. 

100 


TILE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


Again,  the  expectancy  of  life  at  any  given  age  is  the  basis 
of  the  premium  paid,  and  it  is  fixed  at  a rate  which  is  sure  to 
cover  all  probable  loss  from  even  exceptionable  visitations  of 
mortality.  The  consequence  is  the  accumulation  which  is  dis- 
tributed as  above,  and  it  must  result,  of  course,  that,  as  the 
amount  of  bonus  paid  to  the  abstainers  is  the  larger,  that  there 
is  a smaller  percentage  of  death  rate  among  them  than  among 
the  other  section.  The  expected  and  actual  deaths  in  each 
section  are  shown  year  by  year,  in  the  records  of  the  company 
from  1866  to  1882  inclusive,  and  it  appears  that  in  every  year 
during  the  entire  period  the  survivals  above  expectancy  were 
greater  among  the  abstainers  than  among  the  non-abstainers 
by  a large  per  cent. 

Omitting  the  single  years,  the  result  in  groups  of  five  years 
is  given  below  : 


Temperance  Section 
Expected  deaths.  | Actual  deaths. 

411 

511 

651 

2SS 

1S61 


General  Section. 

Expected  deaths.  I Actual  deaths. 


1SS0  ] 

to  \ 

1570  J 

1571  ) 

100S 

944 

to  1 
1S75  J 
1876  ) 

12G8 

1330 

to  J 

18S0  J 

1SS1  | 

14S5 

14S0 

and 

1SS2  J 

647 

5S5 

4428 

4339 

1SSG 

to 

1870 

1871 
to 

1875 

1876  ) 
to  [■ 

1S80  J 

1881] 

and  l 

1S82  J 


549 


723 


933 


439 


2644 


Thus  the  survivals  above  expectancy  in  the  Temperance  Sec- 
tion from  1866  to  1882 — 17  3'ears — was  783,  or  29.5  per  cent, 
of  the  total  of  expectancy,  while  in  the  General  Section,  itself 
made  up  of  persons  of  good  habits  and  exceptional  vigor,  the 
survivals  were  but  69,  or  1.5  per  cent.  If  the  membership 
of  the  General  Section  had  been  the  same  as  that  of  the  Tem- 
perance Section,  the  survivals  in  the  General  Section  would 
have  been  46,  or  two  thirds  of  69,  which  is  one  seventeenth  the 
survivals  in  the  Temperance  Section. 

Rev.  Dawson  Burns,  commenting  on  these  facts  in  his  val- 
uable compilation,  "The  Vital  Statistics  of  Total  Abstinence,” 
says:  "If  in  a comparison  with  selected  lives  of  adults  the 
Temperance  Section  showed  a superiority  of  28  per  cent.” 


Dr.  I.  K.  Fimk, 

Editor  of  “ 2'hc  Voice." 


ENGLISH  EXPERIENCE. 


101 


(29i — 11.)  "it  is  reasonable  to  infer  that  — taking  the 
whole  population  and  remembering  how  large  a portion  of 
adult  and  infant  life  is  sacrificed  to  intemperance  and  its  effects, 
an  equal  saving  of  life  would  result  from  the  universal  adoption 
of  total  abstinence.  iVow  the  population  of  the  United  King- 
dom was  estimated  in  the  middle  of  1882  to  be  35,250,000  ; 
and  the  deaths  in  1882  were  678,486  (England,  516,783  ; 
Scotland,  72,966  ; Ireland,  88,737)  ; and  on  an  estimate  of  28 
per  cent,  we  have  189,980  lives  sacrificed,  in  one  form  or 
other,  to  alcohol,  that  might  have  been  saved  in  one  single 
year  by  universal  total  abstinence.  This  number  far  exceeds 
the  estimate  of  40,000  persons  directly  slain  each  year  by 
drink,  and  80,000  others  sacrificed  by  privations,  neglect, 
accidents,  etc.,  a total  of  120,000;  but  it  falls  short  of  Dr. 
Richardson’s  estimate  of  the  hygienic  results  of  a state  of  per- 
fect abstention  from  intoxicating  liquors.” 

The  Briton  Life  Association  insures  total  abstainers  at  a 
reduction  of  ten  per  cent,  of  the  regular  premiums,  and  the 
Emperor  Life  Assurance  Society  at  a considerable  reduction. 
In  the  Sceptre  Life  Association,  according  to  a printed  docu- 
ment, the  deaths  in  the  General  Section,  during  the  seven  years 
ending  December  31st,  1882,  were  335  out  of  438  expected, 
or  24  per  cent,  below  expectancy,  and  in  the  Temperance  Sec- 
tion, 73  out  of  165  expected,  or  56  per  cent,  below  expectancy. 
The  Secretary  writes,  Oct.  22,  1883  : "For  eighteen  years, 
ending  31st  of  December  last,  we  expected  270  claims  in  the 
Temperance  Section,  but  had  116  only.  Of  our  new  insured 
over  40  per  cent,  are  total  abstainers.  Dr.  Burns  adds  : "The 
saving  of  life  has  been  at  the  rate  of  57  per  cent.  In  the  Vic- 
toria Mutual  Assurance  Society,  up  to  a certain  time,  the 
claims  against  the  premiums  in  the  Temperance  Section  had 
absorbed  20.3  per  cent,  as  compared  with  33.2  per  cent,  in  the 
General  Section,  all  other  conditions  of  comparison  being  sub- 
stantially the  same. 

The  twenty-sixth  Annual  Report  of  the  Whittington  Life 
Assurance  Company,  September,  1881,  mentions  the  favorable 
rate  of  mortality  in  the  Temperance  Section,  and  the  same  in 
the  report  of  the  following  year. 

The  Independent  Order  of  Rechabites,  of  Manchester, 
England,  was  formed  in  1835.  Dr.  Thornley  read  a paper  at 


102 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


Bolton,  November  9th,  18S2,  in  which  he  compares  the  health 
and  death  rate  of  this  model  order  of  abstainers  with  the  same 
in  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  who  as  a class  are 
certainly  far  above  the  average  of  the  community  in  regard 
to  good  habits  and  comfortable  surroundings.  "In  Blackburn, 
Bolton  and  Manchester  are  3400  Rechabites ; their  deaths 
in  1876  were  46 — 13.5  per  1000.  In  the  Bolton  District  of 
Rechabites  that  year  the  death  rate  was  11.2  per  1000.  In 
Blackburn  there  are  3500  Odd  Fellows,  and  in  1876  they  had 
76  deaths,  21.42  per  1000.” 

In  sickness  the  Rechabites  have  16.2  per  cent,  while  the 
Odd  Fellows  had  20.53  per  cent.  The  average  duration  of 
sickness  of  the  Rechabites  was  five  weeks,  two  days  and 
twenty-one  hours  ; of  the  Odd  Fellows  eight  weeks,  five  days 
and  eight  hours.  Of  every  100  Rechabites  16  were  sick  ; of  the 
Odd  Fellows  20  were  sick.  In  the  Bolton  District  for  ten  }rears 
the  death  rate  among  the  Rechabites  was  13  per  1000,  while 
that  of  the  Odd  Fellows  in  the  Blackburn  district  was  19  per 
1000.  Deaths  during  prevalence  of  typhoid  fever,  Rechabites 
18  per  1000,  that  of  Odd  Fellows  31  per  1000  in  the  same 
district — Over  Darwen.  But  at  the  same  time  in  the  same 
district  the  publicans,  liquor  dealers,  came  to  the  front  with  a 
grim  prominence  of  mortality  at  the  rate  of  150  per  1000 — 
eight  publicans  to  one  Rechabite. 

The  Sanitary  Review,  after  a long  and  careful  comparison 
of  vital  statistics  concerning  the  Rechabites  and  Odd  Fellows, 
concludes  thus  : " Should  the  Rechabites  at  any  future  time 
muster  half  a million,  the  annual  saving  of  life,  were  the  same 
low  mortality  to  continue,  would  exceed  2500  lives.”  This  is 
in  comparison  with  the  Odd  Fellows — one  of  the  best-managed 
and  the  largest  non-abstinent  friendly  societies  in  the  world. 

Comparison  of  the  Sons  of  Temperance  with  other  friendly 
societies  of  non-abstainers  show  similar  results.  The  London 
Temperance  Hospital  has  been  in  operation  from  October  6, 
1873,  up  to  April  30,  1883,  9.5  years.  Alcohol  is  absolutely 
excluded.  The  average  rate  of  mortality  was  4.5  per  cent. 
The  number  of  in-patients  was  1765,  of  out-patients 
12,883.  The  percentage  of  mortality  is  of  the  in-patients. 
In  the  Manchester  Royal  Infirmary  and  Cheadle  and 
Monsall  Infirmary  in  ten  years,  50,670,  in-patients  were 


COMPARATIVE  LENGTH  OF  LIFE. 


103 


treated  from  1873  to  1882,  and  the  mortality  was  8.7  of  the 
whole  number.  During  this  period  the  managers  seem  to 
have  been  gradually  tending  to  the  disuse  of  alcohol  as  a 
remedy  and  with  a decreasing  mortality  as  the  result. 

Dr.  Hargreaves  gives  it  as  his  deliberate  opinion — con- 
sidering besides  the  sickness  and  death  of  adults,  the  thous- 
ands who  die  in  infancy  and  childhood  by  neglect,  imperfect 
nourishment,  deprivations,  etc.,  resulting  from  the  use  of 
strong  drinks — that  one  half  of  all  the  sickness  and  premature 
death  in  the  civilized  world  is  directly  or  indirectly  produced 
by  the  use  of  aloholic  drinks. 

Nielson’s  statistics  show  that  the  mortality  of  the  intemperate 
from  21  to  30  years  is  five  times  that  of  the  temperate  ; from 
30  to  40,  four  times. 

Beer  drinkers  live  an  average  of  21.7  years  after  contracting 
the  habit;  spirit  drinkers,  16.7  years;  those  who  drink  both, 
16.1  years.  Dr.  Carpenter  says  the  average  yearly  rate  of 
mortality  for  the  whole  population  of  England  is  13  per  1000  ; 
those  insured  in  life  insurance  companies,  11  per  1000;  in 
“ Friendly  Societies  ” 10  per  1000;  in  the  Rechabites,  who 
are  total  abstainers,  7.5  per  1000. 

Four  of  the  best  Life  Insurance  Companies  make  the  follow- 
ing showing  as  compared  with  the  Temperance  Provident 
Institution  during  the  same  period  : 

Life  Co.  A issued  944  policies,  had  14  deaths,  equal  to  15  per  1,000 
“ L>  “ 1.907  “ 27  “ “ 14 

“ C “ 838  “ 11  “ “ 13 

“ D “ 2,470  “ 65  “ “ 22  “ 

T.  P.  I.  “ 1,596  “ 12  “ “ 7}  “ 

Thus  it  is  seen  that  total  abstinence  reduces  the  death  rate 
one  half  and  more  below  that  of  persons  of  good  health  who 
are  not  total  abstainers. 

Nielson  says  that  a temperate  person  at  the  age  of  20  has 
the  life  expectancy  of  44  years  ; at  30  years  of  age,  36  years  ; 
at  40,  28  years ; at  50,  22  years ; at  60,  14  3rears.  The 
intemperate  person  at  20  has  an  expectancy  of  15  years — 
one  third  that  of  the  abstainer;  at  30,  13  years;  at  40,  11 
years ; at  50,  10  years ; and  at  60,  9 years.  The  average 
duration  of  life  after  commencing  the  use  of  alcoholic  drinks 
is,  among  mechanics  and  laborers,  18  years ; store-keepers 
and  gentlemen  15  years  ; and  among  females  14  years. 


104 


the  temperance  movement. 


Among  innkeepers  and  publicans  the  death  rate  per  1000 
is,  according  to  Mr.  Nielson,  25  yearly,  while  of  the  general 
population  it  is  16.2,  and  as  we  have  seen,  among  Rechabites 
and  total  abstainers,  it  is  7.5. 

When  a policy  holder  inquired  of  Air.  Hardy,  the  actuary, 
why  the  bonus  is  so  large  in  the  Temperance.  Section  as 
compared  with  the  General  Section,  he  replied:  "The 
Bonus  is  a matter  of  fact.  I cannot  help  people  dying. 
Those  who  don’t  drink  don’t  die  so  fast.” 

Dr.  Willard  Parker,  so  long  at  the  head  of  the  medical  pro- 
fession and  so  generally  known  by  the  American  people,  who 
loved  him  while  living,  and  who  now  holds  his  virtues,  abili- 
ties and  eminent  services  in  sacred  memory,  said  in  a public 
address,  “ That  33|-  per  cent,  of  all  the  deaths  in  New  York 
city  were  occasioned  directly  or  indirectly  by  the  use  of  alco- 
holic drinks.”  Dr.  Frank  says  that  no  more  fatal  gift  than  the 
art  of  distillation  " was  ever  presented  either  by  men  or  devils.” 

Tlte  Insurance  Guide  of  England,  as  cited  by  Dr.  Har- 
greaves, contains  the  following:  "The  mortality  of  the  rum 
and  beer  shop-keepers  is  in  excess  of  the  mortality  of  all  other 
classes.  Thus,  for  instance,  during  the  year  at  a given  age  : 


Out  of  every  1000  farmers 
“ 11  “ shoe-makers 


died 


weavers  ‘ ‘ 

blacksmiths  “ 

tailors  and  carpenters 
miners  “ 

bakers  “ 

butchers  ‘ ‘ 


12 

15 

15 

16 
17 
20 
21 
23 


inn  and  beer  shop-keepers  28 


The  general  mortality  at  the  same  age  among  the  whole  popu- 
lation of  England  being  IS  per  1000.”  It  should  also  be 
remembered  that  most  of  these  men  of  all  occupations  are 
drinkers  themselves  ; but,  as  it  is,  more  than  two  of  the  liquors 
sellers  die  to  one  farmer,  and  nearly  two  of  several  other 
occupations  as,  compared  with  total  abstainers.  Recalling 
the  small  mortally  of  Rechabites  per  thousand  (7.5)  it  would 
appear  to  be  certain  that  the  mortal it}r  of  the  liquor  seller  as 
compared  with  the  total  abstainer  would  beat  least  three  times 


RELATIVE  MORTALITY  IN  DIFFERENT  OCCUPATIONS.  105 

as  great.  But  for  the  presence  of  alcohol  all  these  adults  are 
engaged  in  healthy  occupations,  and  the  high  rates  of  mortality 
among  them  are  probably  due  to  that  cause. 

The  following  diagram  is  prepared  by  Rev.  William 
Burgess,  of  Canada,  who  has  recently  published  an  impor- 
tant .work,  "Land,  Labor  and  Liquor,”  from  the  Report 
of  the  Register  General  of  England  for  1880,  1881  and 
1882.  Where  1000  represents  the  deaths  among  all  males, 
1361  represents  the  deaths  among  brewers,  and  1521  deaths- 
among  saloon-keepers,  beer-dealers,  etc. 


A STARTLING  COMPARISON  OF  THE  SICKNESS  IN  TEMPERANCE  AND  OTHER  SOCIETIES  IN  ENGLAND. 

(From  I lie  Ilomiolectic  Review,  September,  1887.) 


10G 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT 


I call  special  attention  to  this  striking  diagram  taken  from 
an  important  article  in  the  Homiolectic  JRevieic. 


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EXPERT  TESTIMONY. 


107 


By  the  Pennsylvania  Insurance  Report  for  the  year  ending 
December  31,  1874,  it  appears  that  during  the  preceding  year 
the  deaths  were  : 


Western  Masonic,  R.  A 14  per  1000. 

Odd  Fellows G “ k‘ 

United  Brethren  (M.) 8 “ “ 


Temperance  Mutual  Benefit  f 
Association  of  Fen  ns3Tl vania,  j 

In  all  these  societies  there  are  many  total  abstainers,  so  that 
a just  comparison  would  be  much  more  in  favor  of  total 
abstinence  than  even  the  above  indicates. 

This  table  is  prepared  by  Dr.  Edward  Jarvis,  a distinguished 
American  statistician. 


Ages  of  persons. 

Deaths  in  100,000. 

Comparative  rate  of 
Mortality. 

Intemper- 

ate. 

Tempe- 

rate. 

Intempe- 

rate. 

Others. 

15  to  20  years 

1,342 

730 

IS 

10 

20  to  30  years 

4,953 

4.G20 

974 

51 

10 

30  to  40  years 

1,110 

42 

10 

40  to  50  years 

5,992 

1,452 

41 

10 

50  to  GO  years 

G.41S 

2.254 

29 

10 

GO  to  90  years 

56,174 

33,260 

13 

10 

Comparative  rate  of  deaths  in  equal  numbers  of  intempe- 
rate and  temperate  persons  of  all  ages  the  same  year 

32 

10 

It  will  be  observed  here  that  the  table  is  not  a comparison 
of  abstainers,  but  of  those  wrho  are  not  intemperate  with  those 
who  are.  Yet  three  times  as  large  a proportion  of  the  latter 
die  as  of  the  former,  in  the  same  year,  out  of  a given  100,000. 

The  practice  and  the  testimony  of  all  the  great  life  insurance 
companies  of  our  own  country — and  they  are  by  far  the  best  in 
the  -world— is  to  the  same  effect  as  that  which  has  been  cited  from 
English  sources.  These  companies,  in  order  to  do  business 
largely,  are  obliged  to  insure  non-abstainers,  because,  unfortu- 
nately, the  totally  abstinent  are  not  the  many  but  the  few,  and 
there  is  among  the  managers  of  these  companies  considerable 
conservatism,  not  to  say  sensitiveness,  on  the  subject,  partly, 
it  may  be,  on  account  of  a predilection  for  the  article  which 
they  are  liable  to  have  in  common  with  the  rest  of  the  com- 
munity— the  same  that  we  find  with  the  medical  profession — - 
but  more  particularly  from  a disinclination  to  condemn  the 
habits  of  society,  alwa3rs  an  unpalatable  thing  to  do,  since  one 


108 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


thereby  not  only  reflects  upon  his  associates,  but  often  still 
more  severely  upon  himself. 

I have  personally  made  inquiry  of  the  officers  of  several  of 
the  leading  life  insurance  companies  of  this  country,  however, 
and  find  universal  agreement  to  the  disastrous  effect  of  liquors 
upon  life  when  used  as  a beverage.  I also  find  a disinclina- 
tion to  contribute  anything  to  the  growing  restiveness  of  total 
abstainers  with  the  heavy  and  unjust  burdens  so  long  imposed 
upon  them  in  their  classification  with  drinking,  and  often 
drunken  policy  holders,  in  consequence  of  which  their  good 
habits  are  made  to  pay  the  death  losses  of  those  who  never 
should  have  been  insured  at  all,  and  never  could  be  without 
ruin  to  the  companies,  but  for  the  long-paying  lives  of  the 
totally  abstinent. 

There  is  a great  deal  of  humbug  in  this  world,  and  more  or 
less  of  it  is  found  out  after  a while.  I believe  that  but  for  the 
drinking  of  policy  holders  of  life  insurance  in  this  country 
the  business  could  be  as  profitably  done  as  it  iioav  is  for  forty 
per  cent,  of  the  premiums  now  paid  ; and  if  life  insurance  man- 
agers fully  improved  the  great  opportunity  given  them  to 
influence  the  people  they  could  contribute  more  than  any  other 
class  of  men,  except  the  medical  profession,  to  the  eradication 
of  this  terrible  evil. 

These  tremendous  companies,  now  among  the  most  colossal 
monetary  forces  of  the  country,  have  it  in  their  power  to  confer 
benefits  commensurate  with  those  they  receive  from  the  public 
by  striking  both  with  precept  and  with  business  weapons  at 
the  baleful  drinking  habits  of  those  whom  they  insure.  More 
and  more  they  are  doing  this,  and  I believe  that  the  Temper- 
ance Reform  will  soon  count  these  great  companies  among 
their  strongest  allies.  If  not,  the  present  companies  will  find 
their  best  risks  quitting  them  for  new  organizations,  which  will 
act  not  alone  for  pecuniary  success  by  dealing  with  human 
vitality  as  purely  a business  commodity,  but  will  inflexibly 
demand  absolute  sobriety  in  all  who  are  insured,  or  that 
drinkers  be  classified  by  themselves  so  that  they  can  pay  for 
their  own  excesses.  It  is  unjust  to  the  virtuous  and  tem- 
perate that  they  be  obliged  to  buy  life  insurance  for  the 
defective  classes  any  longer. 

As  indicating  the  awakened  attention  of  leading  life  insur- 

O 


J.  N.  Stea  ms, 

Nationa I Temperance  Society. 


TESTIMONY  OF  LIFE  ASSURANCE  OFFICERS.  109 

ance  men  to  this  subject,  I insert  the  following  communications 
drawn  out  by  the  Voice,  the  able  and  indefatigable  organ  of 
the  Prohibitory  party.  These  communications  were  published 
in  the  first  and  fourth  numbers  of  that  paper,  the  last  being 
issued  Oct.  16,  1884,  and  they  constitute  one  of  the  many 
great  services  of  that  journal  in  arousing  the  public  mind  to 
the  vast  importance  of  the  cause  of  temperance. 

testimony'  of  life  assurance  officers. 

Col.  Greene,  the  President  of  the  Connecticut  Mutual  Life 
Insurance  Co.,  one  of  the  oldest  and  largest  companies  in  the 
country,  has  put  himself  on  record  thus  : 

It  has  been  my  duty  to  send  the  records  of,  and  to  make  inquiry 
into,  the  last  illness  and  death  of  many  thousand  persons  of  all 
classes  ih  all  parts  of  the  country.  Two  great  features  are  shown 
in  these  records : the  value  of  a man’s  inheritance  of  vitality,  and 
the  modifying  force  of  habits  of  living  upon  that  vitality.  Every 
man  is  born  with  an  amount  of  vital  force  that  ought,  accidents 
apart  and  humanely  speaking,  to  carry  him  a specific  distance  on 
the  scale  of  years,  and  each  man’s  inheritance  can,  on  the  average, 
be  fairly  determined.  Among  the  persons  selected  with  care  for 
physical  soundness  and  sobriety,  and  who  are,  as  a rule,  respect- 
able and  useful  members  of  society,  the  death-rate  is  more  profoundly 
affected  by  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks  than  from  any  other  one 
cause,  apart  from  hereditary. 

The  testimony  of  the  same  expert  authority,  as  to  beer,  is 
equally  emphatic : 

I protest  against  the  notion  so  prevalent  and  so  industriously  urged 
that  beer  is  harmless,  and  a desirable  substitute  for  the  more  concen- 
trated liquors.  What  beer  may  be  and  what  it  may  do  in  other  coun- 
tries and  climates,  I do  not  know  from  observation.  That  in  this 
country  and  climate  its  use  is  an  evil  only  less  than  the  use  of  whisky, 
if  less  on  the  whole,  and  that  its  effect  is  only  longer  delayed,  not 
so  immediately  and  obviously  bad,  its  incidents  not  so  repulsive,  but 
destructive  in  the  end,  I have  seen  abundant  proof.  In  one  of  our 
largest  cities,  containing  a great  population  of  beer  drinkers,  I had 
occasion  to  note  the  deaths  among  a large  group  of  persons  whose 
habits,  in  their  own  eyes  and  in  those  of  their  friends  and  physicians, 
were  temperate ; but  they  were  habitual  users  of  beer.  When  the 
observation  began,  they  were,  upon  the  average,  something  under 
middle  age,  and  they  were,  of  course,  selected  lives.  For  two  or 
three  years  there  was  nothing  very  remarkable  to  be  noted  among  this 


110 


TILE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


group.  Presently  death  began  to  strike  it;  and,  until  it  had  dwindled 
to  a fraction  of  its  original  proportions,  the  mortality  in  it  was  astound- 
ing in  extent,  and  still  more  remarkable  in  the  manifest  identity  of 
cause  and  mode.  There  was  no  mistaking  it ; the  history  was  almost 
invariable  ; robust,  apparent  health,  full  muscles,  a fair  outside,  in- 
creasing weight,  florid  faces ; then  a touch  of  cold,  or  a sniff  of 
malaria,  and  instantly  some  acute  disease,  with  almost  invariably 
typhoid  symptoms,  was  in  violent  action,  and  ten  days  or  less  ended 
it.  It  was  as  if  the  system  had  been  kept  fair  outside  while  within  it 
was  eaten  to  a shell ; and  at  the  first  touch  of  disease  there  was  utter 
collapse  ; every  fiber  was  poisoned  and  weak.  And  this,  in  its  main 
features,  varying,  of  course,  in  degree,  has  been  my  observation  of 
beer  drinking  everywhere.  It  is  peculiarly  deceptive  at  first ; it  is 
thoroughly  destructive  at  the  last. 

Col.  Greene's  experience,  as  given  above,  in  reference  to 
beer  as  well  as  alcohol,  was  fully  indorsed  by  that  of  nine 
presidents  of  our  leading  insurance  companies  in  letters  ad- 
dressed to  The  Voice , and  published  in  October,  1884.  James 
W.  Alexander,  Vice-president  of  the  Equitable  Life,  wrote 
December  5,  1884  : 

How  often  what  even  we  designate  as  moderate  drinking  expands 
into  immoderate  drinking,  and  causes  early  death,  is  hardly  realized 
by  those  who  do  not  have  the  evidence  brought  under  their  eyes  as 
we  do. 

Dr.  Walter  R.  Gillette,  Medical  Director  of  the  Mutual 
Life,  wrote  January  3,  1885  : 

With  all  our  care  and  investigations,  the  [Mutual]  Company  is 
called  upon  yearly  to  pay  losses  due  both  directly  and  indirectly  to  the 
use  of  alcohol,  which,  could  the  figures  be  accurately  ascertained, 
would  be  appalling. 

From  Thomas  W.  Russell,  President  Connecticut  General 
Life  Insurance  Co.  : 

I have  no  doubt  the  results  are  correctly  stated  by  Col.  Greene. 
Pneumonia,  typhoid  fever,  inflammation  of  the  brain,  of  the  bowels, 
etc.,  are  not  unfrequently  given  as  the  cause  of  death,  when  it  should 
be  truthfully  added — directly  induced  by  the  use  of  such  beverages. 

From  George  C.  Ripley,  Pres.  Home  Life  Insurance  Co.  : 

Our  experience,  as  a rule,  confirms  that  of  Col.  Greene.  It  indi- 
cates that  malt  liquors  used  habitually,  even  though  moderately,  cause 
an  increase  of  mortality. 

From  T.  H.  Brosnan,  Pres.  U.  S.  Life  Insurance  Co. : 


INSURANCE  TESTIMONY. 


Ill 


Our  experience  has  been  very  much  more  limited  than  the  experi- 
ence of  the  Connecticut  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Co.,  but,  as  far  as  it 
has  gone,  and  to  the  extent  of  our  own  powers  of  observation,  whether 
speaking  officially  or  personally,  we  believe  that  Col.  Greene’s  views- 
represent  the  facts.  There  are,  of  course,  cases  where  persons  are 
advised  to  take,  and  are  benefited  by  taking,  malt  liquors  dailv.  But 
when  persons  are  addicted  to  the  habitual  use  of  ale  or  beer  daily  it 
would  be  hard  to  define  the  limits  within  which  they  could  be  called 
moderate  drinkers.  The  ability  to  attend  to  business  is  not  a test  to 
be  relied  on. 

From  J.  B.  Temple,  Pres.  Southern  Mutual  Life  Insurance 
Co.,  Ky.  : 

I cannot  say  that  I have  such  wide  experience  as  Col.  Greene’s,  but 
I do  not  doubt  the  correctness  of  his  conclusions.  In  the  case  of 
moderate  drinking  either  of  malt  or  spirituous  liquors,  there  is  small 
hope  that  the  habitual  drinker  will  remain  a moderate  one.  • 

From  A.  G.  Bullock,  Pres.  State  Mut.  Life  Assurance  Co.  :• 

I have  not  examined  the  subject  as  thoroughly  as  Col.  Greene  has 
and  cannot  answer,  therefore,  with  as  much  confidence  from  personal 
knowledge.  But  generally,  I will  answer,  my  experience  confirms 
that  narrated  by  him.  My  experience  is  that  the  habitual  use  of  beer, 
ale,  etc.,  even  by  moderate  drinkers,  increases  mortality. 

From  Stephen  Ball,  Sec’y  of  the  Hartford  Life  and  Annuity 
Insurance  Co.  : 

From  our  general  observations,  we  should  take  it  for  granted  that  a 
careful  examination  of  our  mortality  experience  would  not  fail  to  con- 
firm the  experience  of  Col.  Greene. 

From  Sam’l  C.  Huey,  President  of  the  Penn.  Mutual  Life 
Insurance  Co.  : 

My  experience  confirms  to  a great  degree  the  experience  of  Col. 
Greene.  I consider  that  malt  liquors  taken  habitually  by  a moderate 
drinker  tend  to  increase  mortality. 

From  J.  II.  Nitchin,  Sec’y  National  Life  Insurance  Co.,  U. 
S.  of  A.  : 

In  general  our  experience  justifies  the  conclusions  expressed  by  Col. 
Greene. 

From  Charles  Dewey,  Pres.  National  Life  Insurance  Co.  : 

Our  experience  confirms  that  of  Col.  Greene,  of  the  Connecticut 
Mutual  Life.  Mortality,  in  our  opinion,  is  increased  by  the  habitual 
use  of  malt  liquors — beer,  ale,  etc. 


112 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


The  following  extract  from  the  Pacific  Medical  Journal  is 
indorsed  by  the  officers  of  the  Home  Life  Insurance  Company 
(New  York),  and  made  use  of  by  them  in  the  form  of  a cir- 
cular : 

The  fashion  of  the  present  day,  in  the  United  States,  sets  strong- 
ly towards  the  substitution  of  beer  for  other  stimulating  liquors. 
An  idea  appears  to  be  gaining  ground  that  it  is  not  only  nu- 
tritious but  conducive  to  health,  and,  further,  that  there  does  not 
attach  to  it  that  danger  of  creating  intemperate  habits  which  attends 
the  use  of  other  drinks.  The  subject  is  one  of  great  magnitude, 
and  deserves  the  attention  of  medical  men  as  well  as  that  of  the 
moralist. 

Many  years  ago,  and  long  before  the  moral  sense  of  society  was 
awakened  to  the  enormous  evils  of  intemperance,  Sir  Astley  Cooper, 
an  undisputed  authority  in  his  day,  denounced  habitual  beer  drink- 
ing as  noxious  to  health.  Referring  to  his  experience  in  Guy’s 
Hospital,  he  declared  that  the  beer  drinkers  from  the  London 
breweries,  though  presenting  the  appearance  of  most  rugged  health, 
were  the  most  incapable  of  all  classes  to  resist  disease — that  trifling 
injuries  among  them  were  liable  to  lead  to  the  most  serious  conse- 
quences, and  that  so  prone  were  they  to  succumb  to  disease  that 
they  would  sometimes  die  from  gangrene  in  wounds  as  trifling  as 
the  scratch  of  a pin. 

We  apprehend  that  no  great  change  either  in  beer  or  men  has 
taken  place  since  the  days  of  the  great  surgeon. 

It  may  also  be  said  of  beer  drinking  that  there  is  less  limitation 
to  it  than  to  the  habitual  use  of  other  drinks.  It  does  not  produce 
speedy  intoxication.  When  the  drinker  becomes  accustomed  to  it, 
it  will  scarcely  produce  active  intoxication  in  any  quantity.  It 
makes  him  heavy,  sleep}7  and  stupid.  Even  in  moderate  quantities 
its  tendency  is  to  dullness  and  sluggishness  of  body  and  mind.  Beer 
drinkers  are  constant  drinkers.  Their  capacity  becomes  unlimited. 
The  swilling  of  the  drink  becomes  a regular  business.  It  has  no 
arrest  or  suspension,  like  whiskey-drinking,  to  admit  of  recupera- 
tion. The  old  definition  of  a regular  beer  drinker  was  true  : — 
“Every  morning  an  empty  barrel,  every  night  a barrel  of  beer.” 

Of  all  intoxicating  drinks  it  is  the  most  animaliziug.  It  dulls 
the  intellectual  and  moral,  and  feeds  the  sensual  and  beastly  nature. 
Beyond  all  other  drinks,  it  qualifies  for  deliberate  and  unprovoked 
crime.  In  this  respect  it  is  much  worse  than  distilled  liquors. 

A whiskey  drinker  will  commit  murder  only  under  the  direct 
excitement  of  liquor — a beer  drinker  is  capable  of  doing  it  in  cold 
blood.  Long  observation  has  assured  us  that  a large  proportion 


BEER  WORSE  THAN  WHISKY. 


113 


of  murders  deliberately  planned  and  executed  without  passion  or 
malice,  witli  no  other  motive  than  the  acquisition  of  property  or 
money,  often  of  trifling  value,  are  perpetrated  by7  beer  drinkers. 

We  believe,  further,  that  the  hereditary  evils  of  beer  drinking 
exceed  those  proceeding  from  ardent  spirits.  First,  because  the 
habit  is  constant  and  without  paroxysmal  interruptions,  which 
admit  of  some  recuperation;  secondly,  because  beer  drinking  is 
practiced  by  both  sexes  more  generally  than  the  spirit  drinking ; 
and,  thirdly,  because  the  animalizing  tendency  of  the  habit  is  more 
uniformly  developed,  thus  authorizing  the  presumption  that  the 
vicious  results  are  more  generally  transmitted. 

It  will  be  inferred  from  these  remarks  that  we  take  no  comfort 
from  the  substitution  of  malt  drinks  for  spirituous  liquors.  On 
the  contrary,  it  is  cause  of  apprehension  and  alarm  that,  just  as 
public  opinion,  professional  and  unprofessional,  is  uniting  all  over 
the  world  in  the  condemnation  or  the  common  use  of  ardent  spirits, 
the  portals  of  danger  and  death  are  opening  wide  in  another 
direction. 

It  gives  me  great  pleasure  now  to  insert  the  following  per- 
sonal letter  from  the  chief  medical  examiner  of  the  New7  York 
Equitable  Life  Insurance  Company,  whose  opinions,  from  his 
great  ability,  long  experience  and  responsible  connection  with 
one  of  the  leading  life  insurance  companies  of  the  world,  as 
well  as  his  caution  and  conservatism,  are  entitled  to  profound 
respect : 

Medical  Department  of  the  Equitable  Life  Assurance  Society , 
120  Broadway,  New  York,  July  8,  1S87. 

Dear  Sir  : — Yesterday  you  called  in  to  see  me,  and  requested  me 
to  give  you  the  result  of  my  observations  in  regard  to  the  use  of 
alcohol.  Please  remember,  in  conjunction  with  these  remarks,  that 
my  life  has  been  spent  in  a crowded  city,  and  the  observations  and 
deductions  made  are  made  from  contact  with  brain  workers,  and 
not  with  men  who  earn  their  living  by  physical  labor. 

Please  remember  also  that  I do  not  wish  these  observations  to 
apply  to  dyspeptics,  or  to  men  recovering  from  severe  diseases,  or 
to  men  who  have  inherited  weak  physical  constitutions.  I wish  to 
be  considered  only  as  remarking  on  the  use  of  alcohol  in  the  case 
of  the  ordinary  brainworker  who  possesses,  by  inheritance,  a good 
physique. 

In  my  judgment  alcohol  is  a poison,  and  belongs,  with  the  other 
valuable  poisons,  upon  the  shelf  of  the  druggist,  and  is  to  be  used 
only  upon  the  advice  of  a good  common-sense  physician,  and  to  be 
discontinued  after  the  emergency  has  passed  for  which  the  physi- 
8 


114 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


cian  prescribed  it.  To  speak  chemically,  alcohol  is  a concentrated 
hydrocarbon,  and  needs  a great  deal  of  physical  labor  to  dispose 
of  it  in  the  animal  economy.  I have  noticed  that  men  who  are 
given  to  the  daily  use  of  alcohol  degenerate  faster  than  those  who 
abstain  from  its  use.  They  are  more  liable  not  only  to  chronic 
degenerations — such  as  fatty  livers,  fatty  kidneys  and  the  like — 
but  they  are  also  more  liable  to  be  attacked  by  acute  diseases,  and 
acute  diseases  are  much  more  likely  to  prove  fatal  to  the  users  of 
alcohol  than  to  those  who  do  not  use  it.  Take  for  illustration  a 
young  friend  of  mine,  who  commenced  the  use  of  alcohol  about  the 
age  of  twenty-one  years.  He  died  after  two  da}?s  illness  from  sup- 
pression of  the  urine.  When  I came  to  examine  his  body,  after 
his  death,  I found  that  all  his  internal  organs  belonged  to  a man  of 
the  age  of  seventy  years  and  not  to  a man  of  forty,  the  age  at  which 
he  died.  I have  noticed  that  steady  users  of  alcohol  are  very  much 
more  apt  to  die  between  the  ages  of  forty  and  fifty  years  of  some 
acute  disease  than  those  who  do  not  use  it  as  a beverage. 

Of  course  you  understand  that  I recognize  the  value  of  this 
article  as  a drug.  Physicians  would  often  be  at  a loss  to  know 
what  to  do  in  certain  acute  and  chronic  cases,  if  they  could  not  give 
their  patients  this  article  as  a medicine.  I admit  that  it  is  a disputed 
point  whether  alcohol  is  a food  or  not.  In  nry  opinion,  judging 
from  cases  of  severe  illness  which  I have  carried  through,  it 
does  act  in  the  place  of  food  under  certain  favorable  conditions, 
but,  as  you  desire  to  know  its  effects  upon  a person  who  uses  it  as  a 
daily  beverage,  my  object  is  to  only  mention  such.  There  is  another 
point  in  regard  to  the  use  of  alcohol  which  I think  is  worthy  of  con- 
sideration. This  climate  of  ours  is  a very  stimulating  one ; it 
develops  a great  amount  of  nervous  energy,  and  is  in  itself  a suffi- 
cient stimulus  for  the  ordinary  individual.  Whoever,  therefore, - 
uses  alcohol  is  simply  overstimulating  his  nervous  energy. 

I have  said  nothing  as  yet  concerning  the  danger  which  every 
one  undergoes  who  uses  alcohol  regularly — the  danger  of  becoming 
a chronic  and  excessive  user  of  the  article  in  question.  Of  course 
you  know  that  any  man  who  uses  alcohol  to  excess  destroys  his 
general  morals,  and,  if  he  once  gets  the  appetite,  there  is  nothing 
on  the  earth,  or  above  it,  or  under  it,  that  he  will  not  do  in  order  to 
gratify  this  morbid  appetite.  He  will  lie  or  steal,  or  see  his  family 
go  to  the  devil  with  perfect  equanimity,  provided  he  can  satisfy 
this  inordinate  craving  for  alcohol. 

As  regards  life  insurance,  we  strive  not  to  accept  any  one  who 
exceeds  Anstie’s  limit,  which  is  (as  you  know)  that  a man  must  not 
take  more  than  an  ounce  of  pure  alcohol  in  twenty-four  hours.  We 
are  particularly  averse  to  accepting  any  one  who  has  ever  over- 
indulged in  the  use  of  this  article. 


LIFE  INSURANCE  METHODS. 


115 


Reformed  drunkards  we  avoid  for  the  simple  reason  given  above 
— that  a man  once  having  yielded  to  the  appetite  seldom  has  the 
moral  stamina  to  live  a life  with  even  a moderate  use  of  alcohol. 

Trusting  that  the  above  will  satisfactorily  cover  all  that  vou 
desire  to  know  concerning  the  general  use  of  alcohol,  I remain 

Very  truly  yours, 

Edward  TV.  Lambert,  M.D., 

Hon.  H.  TV.  Blair.  Medical  Director. 

The  evidence  based  upon  statistics  and  the  business  prac- 
tice of  life  assurance  companies,  and  by  comparison  of 
abstinent  and  non-abstinent  individuals  and  associations  can 
be  increased  indefinitely  ; but  further  accumulation  is  useless, 
for  if  the  American  people  believe  not  what  is  already 
written,  neither  will  they  believe  though  one  rise  from  the 
dead. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


ALCOHOL  IX  MEDICINE 


Considerations  which  Influence  Physicians  to  Prescribe  it  — Difficulties 
rney  Encounter — Declarations  of  Noted  Medical  Bodies  — Evidence 
that  Physicians  were  the  Early  Advocates  of  Moderation  — Resolutions 
of  English  Bodies — The  Views  of  Dr.  Stille  — A Physician  who  thinks 
Alcohol  Sometimes  Useful,  Necessary  and  Indispensable  — The  Opin- 
ions of  Dr.  DaA'is  on  the  other  side  — His  Dissection  of  the  Arguments 
for  Alcohol  — Review  of  Various  Investigations  — Letter  from  Dr. 
Hargreaves  — Dr.  Palmer's  Statement  of  the  Case  — Varying  Opinions 
and  how  they  are  Sustained  — Dr.  Rembaugh’s  Position  — Dr.  Wilder’s 
Letter  — Important  Conclusions. 

PON  the  vexed  question,  whether  alcohol  be  a med"  ine 


indispensable  or  useful,  I do  not  propose  to  enter.  It 


is  enough  for  the  purposes  of  this  case  against  the  traffic 
in  alcohol  as  a beverage  to  know  that  alcohol  is  not  a food, 
and  that  arsenic,  prussic  acid  and  strychnine  are  medicines. 
The  most  powerful  poisons  are  stimulants  and  narcotics-  and 
alcohol  is  the  worst  of  them.  Scientific  investigation  and  the 
labors  of  a learned  profession,  chastened  and  restrained  in 
practice  by  the  growing  intelligence  of  the  people,  may  be 
left  to  settle  what  shall  be  classed  with  materia  medica.  We 
must  know  enough  to  select  our  food — that  at  least  is  the  act 
of  the  layman ; but  we  have  a right  to  rely  upon  the  doctors 
for  our  physic;  that  is  what  they  claim  to  know  about,  for 
which  the}r  are  responsible,  and  we,  the  people,  pay — some- 


times 


But  that  physician  can  hardly  claim  to  be  true  to  his  patient 
and  his  profession  who  follows  the  routine  of  practice  in  the 
selection  of  remedies,  who  administers  a medicinal  poison 
when  a food  medicine  would  be  an  equally  efficacious  remedy, 
and  especially  strict  should  be  his  caution  not  to  countenance, 
save  in  the  direst  emergency  of  his  practice,  the  use  of  an 
agent  which,  like  alcohol,  is,  in  every  other  situation,  the 
public  and  private  enemy  of  us  all.  There  is  now  a rapidly- 
growing  opinion  among  many  of  the  ablest  and  most  advanced 


116 


THE  PHYSICIANS’  POSITION. 


117 


members  of  the  profession,  increasing  I think  nearly  in  the 
proportion  that  there  has  been  independent  and  impartial 
personal  investigation,  that  alcohol  is  never  necessary  as  a 
remedy,  and  that  its  administration  is  objectionable  generally 
on  account  of  the  patient,  and  always  by  reason  of  the  count- 
enance thus  given  to  this  hydra-headed  monster.  It  is  also 
true  that,  with  hardly  a dissenting  voice,  the  verdict  of  the  pro- 
fession throughout  the  world  is  that  alcohol  is  a potent  and 
dangerous  drug,  which  should  be  administered  or  used  only 
by  the  direction  of  a competent  medical  adviser. 

It  was  not  always  so.  There  were  hundreds  of  years  when 
the  practitioners  of  medicine  followed,  if  they  did  not  form,  the 
drinking  habits  of  society,  and  their  present  position  is  a great 
reform  in  their  own  body.  When  we  consider  that  the  still 
earlier  doctors  and  chemists  concealed  the  discovery  of  alco- 
hol for  three  hundred  years  on  account  of  the  calamities  which 
the}"  foresaw  it  would  bring  upon  mankind,  if  generally  known, 
it  is  strange  that  so  many  of  that  same  profession  since  those 
infinite  calamities  have  come,  and  they  themselves  have  so 
largely  suffered  from  them,  should  be  in  love  with  alcohol  and 
should  recommend  it  to  others.  It  shows  the  tremendous 
power  of  this  king  of  evil,  when, by  reason  of  the  clamor  of 
universal  appetite,  the  warning  voice  of  science  and  of  the 
healing  art  cannot  be  heard  even  by  its  own  oracles — like  a 
person  so  deaf  that  he  never  hears  himself  speak.  It  demon- 
strates also  that  the  public  can  have  the  physic  they  cry  for. 
The  body  of  the  profession  will  give  soothing  syrup  when 
people  will  pay  for  soothing  syrup  more  willingly  than  for 
anything  else  ; and,  until  the  people  are  sufficiently  intelligent 
upon  the  subject  to  reject  it  themselves,  the  body  of  the  pro- 
fession will  not  be  at  too  great  sacrifice  of  personal  ease  and 
the  sources  of  livelihood  in  fighting  the  popular  demand  for 
alcohol. 

In  view  of  this  fact  we  may  well  apply  to  the  nation  and  the 
world  the  admonition,  "Physician,  heal  thyself.”  Every  pro- 
fession must  and  ought  to  have,  and  in  plain  words  will  have, 
its  bread  and  butter.  It  is  a question  which  sometime  will  be 
considered,  whether  lawyers  and  physicians  should  not  either 
be  employed  by  the  public  and  made  pecuniarily  independent, 
so  that  their  labors  and  advice  should  be  directed  primarily 


118 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


to  the  prevention  of  the  evils  which  they  exist  to  remedy, 
rather  than  the  present  system  should  continue,  which  makes 
it  necessary  that  the  evil  shall  be,  in  order  that  they  may  obtain 
a livelihood  by  its  removal.  Disease  and  litigation  are  the 
life  of  these  great  professions.  If  we  paid  them  to  be  kept 
out  of  trouble,  and  fined  them  or  compelled  them  to  render 
gratuitous  service  when  we  are  involved  in  the  meshes  of  the 
law  or  sutler  from  ill  health,  or  if  they  were  salaried  by  the 
public  to  give  us  good  laws,  keep  the  peace  in  civil  and  crim- 
inal affairs,  and  to  save  us  from  suffering  and  ill  health,  we 
should  at  least  place  self-interest  on  the  side  of  the  public  wel- 
fare. It  has  been  said  that  the  Czar  stops  the  salary  of  his 
physician  when  he  is  not  in  good  health,  and  that  the  Chinese 
apply  this  principle  to  their  professors  of  the  healing  art. 

It  is  impossible  for  the  patient  who  is  really  ill  to  " medicine'” 
himself,  especially  if  his  be  "a  mind  diseased,”  or  to  compre- 
hend the  mysteries  of  his  malady.  If  he  could  do  these  things 
there  would  be  no  occasion  for  the  physician,  and  his  occupa- 
tion would  be  gone.  But  the  opinions  of  those  learned  in  the 
science  and  skilled  in  the  art  command  our  confidence  in 
cases  of  doubt,  often  to  a degree  beyond  that  which  is  felt 
by  the  physician  himself.  I have  therefore  arranged  in  this 
chapter  a few  declarations  of  great  medical  bodies  and  a few 
of  the  many  authoritative  expressions,  specially  obtained  for 
this  work,  of  eminent  members  of  the  profession  upon  the 
nature  and  use  of  alcohol  and  its  effect  upon  the  human 
system  and  society.  Without  asking  for  their  reasons  we 
would  risk  our  lives  and  the  lives  of  our  families  and  friends 
upon  the  professional  opinion  of  any  one  of  these  men. 
They  give  us  here  the  same  calm  and  settled  truth  which 
knowledge,  experience  and  observation  have  taught  to  them 
and  upon  which  they  act,  and  by  their  advice  others  act,  in 
the  most  solemn  affairs  of  life  and  death.  It  seems  to  me 
that  a reasonable  people  should  accept  these  opinions  as  con- 
clusive without  undertaking  to  settle  nice  and,  to  laymen, 
inconsequential  and  mysterious  questions  which  belong  to  the 
lecture  room  and  the  laboratory.  While  they  do  not  always 
agree  as  to  the  precise  nature  of  alcohol  and  differ  oftener  in 
terms  than  in  substance,  it  ought  to  be  enough  that  these  men 
say  that  alcohol  is  a dangerous  drug,  a poison,  and  that  it  is  one 


Rev.  George  C.  Haddock , 

“ The  Iowa  Martvr .” 


MEDICAL  DECLARATIONS. 


119 


of  the  tools  of  tlieir  occupation  which  no  man  outside  the  faculty 
can  handle  without  great  risk  to  body,  soul  and  estate.  But 
for  the  gnawing  of  appetite  and  the  clamor  of  a great  com- 
mercial interest  this  would  be  sufficient,  and  I feel  irreat  hope 
that  with  multitudes,  especially  of  the  young  and  the,  as  yet, 
unfallen,  if  not  even  of  those  who  being  in  the  river  are  still 
this  side  the  rapids,  these  sententious  but  emphatic  testi- 
monies will  be  a saving  grace. 

The  first  important  medical  declaration  upon  alcohol  in 
recent  times  was  made  in  1839  by  English  physicians  and  is 
as  follows.  By  it  those  great  men,  being  dead,  like  our 
fathers  who  issued  the  great  declaration  for  human  rights, 
yet  speak  for  the  emancipation  of  the  race  from  the  worst 
tyranny  under  which  mortals  ever  groaned.  They  " declared 
the  opinion  to  be  erroneous  that  wine,  beer  or  spirits  was 
beneficial  to  health  ; that  man  in  ordinary  health  required  no 
such  stimulant,  and  could  not  be  benefited  by  the  habitual 
employment  of  such  in  either  large  or  small  quantities ; and 
even  in  the  most  moderate  doses  alcoholic  drinks  did  no 
good,  while  large  quantities  (such  as  by  many  -would  be 
thought  moderate)  sooner  or  later  prove  injurious  to  the 
human  constitution  without  any  exception.” 

This  was  signed  by  Sir  Benjamin  Brodie,  Sir  James  Clark, 
Sir  J.  E}rre,  Dr.  Marshall  Hall,  Dr.  A.  T.  Thomson,  Dr.  A. 
Ure,  the  Queen's  physician,  Professor  Quain,  Mr.  Bransby 
Cooper,  and  seventy  of  the  most  eminent  physicians  and 
surgeons  of  the  United  Kingdom. 

In  1847  the  second  medical  declaration  was  made.  This 
declaration  says  : "We  are  of  the  opinion  : 1st,  That  a very 
large  portion  of  human  misery,  including  poverty,  disease, 
and  crime,  is  induced  by  the  use  of  alcoholic  or  fermented 
liquors  as  a beverage.  2d,  That  perfect  health  is  compatible 
with  total  abstinence  from  all  such  intoxicating  drinks,  whether 
in  the  form  of  ardent  spirits,  or  as  wine,  beer,  porter,  cider, 
etc.  3d,  That  persons  accustomed  to  such  drinks  may  with 
perfect  safety  discontinue  them  entirely,  or  gradually,  after  a 
short  time.  4th,  That  total  and  universal  abstinence  from 
alcoholic  drinks,  and  intoxicating  beverages  of  all  sorts, 
would  contribute  to  the  health,  prosperity,  morality  and 
happiness  of  the  human  race.”  Sir  Benjamin  Brodie,  Sir  G. 


120 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


Clark,  Sir  W.  Burnett,  Sir  J.  Forbes,  Sir  H.  Holland,  Sir  A. 
Monroe,  Sir  J.  M’Gregor,  Sir  R.  Christison,  Dr.  VT.  B. 
Carpenter,  Dr.  Copland,  Dr.  Neil  Arnott,  Dr.  A.  Farre, 
Professors  Guy,  Allen,  Thomson,  Miller,  McLeod,  Thomp- 
son, and  Simpson,  and  2000  of  the  leading  professors  and 
practitioners  of  Great  Britain  made  this  declaration. 

This  it  will  be  observed  is  a declaration  in  favor  of  total  and 
universal  abstinence  from  alcoholic  drinks  and  intoxicating  bev- 
erages of  all  sorts.  It  in  fact  covers  the  whole  case  with  that  calm 
but  comprehensive  power  of  expression  which  characterizes 
the  utterances  of  medical  bodies.  They  do  not  even  say  that 
alcohol  is  important  as  a medicine.  They  in  effect  declare 
emphatically  against  it  as  a food,  for  if  a food  the  fourth  par- 
agraph never  could  be  predicated  as  true. 

The  Third  Medical  Declaration  of  Great  Britain  was  made 
in  1871.  It  reads  as  follows  : 

As  it  is  believed  that  the  inconsiderate  prescription  of  large  quan- 
tities of  alcoholic  liquids  by  medical  men  for  their  patients  has 
given  rise,  in  many  instances,  to  the  formation  of  intemperate 
habits,  the  undersigned,  while  unable  to  abandon  the  use  of  alcohol 
in  the  treatment  of  certain  diseases,  are  yet  of  the  opinion  that  no 
medical  practitioner  should  prescribe  it  without  a sense  of  grave 
responsibility.  They  believe  that  alcohol,  in  whatever  form,  should 
be  prescribed  with  as  much  care  as  any  powerful  drug,  and  that  the 
direction  for  its  use  should  be  so  framed  as  not  to  be  interpreted  as 
a sanction  for  excess,  or  necessarily  for  the  continuance  of  its  use 
when  the  occasion  is  past. 

They  are  also  of  opinion  that  many  people  immensely  exaggerate 
the  value  of  alcohol  as  an  article  of  diet,  and  since  no  class  of  men 
see  so  much  of  its  ill  effects,  and  possess  such  power  to  restrain  its 
abuse,  as  members  of  their  own  profession,  they  hold  that  every 
medical  practitioner  is  bound  to  exert  his  utmost  influence  to  incul- 
cate habits  of  great  moderation  in  the  use  of  alcoholic  liquids. 

Being  also  firmly  convinced  that  the  great  amount  of  drinking  of 
alcoholic  liquors  among  the  working  classes  of  this  country  is  one 
of  the  greatest  evils  of  the  day,  destroying,  more  than  anything  else, 
the  health,  happiness,  and  welfare  of  those  classes,  and  neutralizing 
to  a large  extent  the  great  industrial  prosperity  which  Providence 
has  placed  within  the  reach  of  this  nation,  the  undersigned  would 
gladly  support  any  wise  legislation  which  would  tend  to  restrict 
within  proper  limits  the  use  of  alcoholic  beverages,  and  gradually 
introduce  habits  of  temperance.  Signed  by  George  Burrows,  M.  D.. 


THE  MONTREAL  MEDICAL  DECLARATION. 


121 


F.  R.  S.,  President  of  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians,  etc., 
George  Busk,  F.  R.  S.,  President  of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons  ; 
Professor  Parkes  and  189  of  the  leading  physicians  and  surgeons 
of  London,  and  G9  medical  practitioners,  heads  of  medical  institu- 
tions in  the  various  cities  and  towns  of  England. 

This  address  is  evidently  forced  out  of  men  by  a sense  of 
responsibility  in  the  presence  of  great  evils  fortified  in  the 
habits  of  society,  which  they  are  influenced  to  attack  with  some 
lack  of  emphatic  directness,  but  which  constrain  to  such  de- 
gree of  condemnation  as  they  feel  the  people  will  bear.  The 
profession  was  less  outspoken  in  1871  than  in  1847.  The 
drinking  habit  of  England  as  well  as  America  was  stronger 
then  than  in  1847.  If  in  the  days  of  their  ignorance  God 
winked  at  the  sins  of  his  children,  we  cannot  wonder  that  we 
have  to  read  between  the  lines  for  the  same  real  denunciation 
of  the  traffic  which  we  find  in  the  open  approval  of  total  absti- 
nence in  the  earlier  and  better  day  of  1847.  In  fact,  if  the 
profession  of  our  time  would  go  back  to  the  old  Arabian,  Al- 
bucassis,  who  knew  in  advance  that  his  invention,  if  it  got 
abroad,  would  be  an  unmitigated  curse,  and  therefore  con- 
cealed it,  they  would  call  a spade  a spade.  The  prudent  doc- 
tor is  careful  what  he  says  of  the  origin  of  the  gouty  toe — 
especially  when  he  has  the  gout  also  himself. 

In  1873,  the  leading  members  of  the  medical  faculty  of  Can- 
ada resident  in  Montreal,  comprising  G.  W.  Campbell,  M.  D., 
Prof,  of  Principles  and  Practice  of  Surgery,  and  Dean  of  Fac- 
ulty of  McGill  College;  E.  H.  Trudel,  M.  I).,  Prof,  of  Mid- 
wifery, and  25  professors  in  Medical  Colleges,  etc.,  and  seventy 
other  physicians  of  Montreal,  united  in  a declaration  considera- 
bly shorter  than  that  of  1871,  just  mentioned,  and  also  con- 
siderably stronger  against  alcohol.  It  is  nearly  up  to  the 
standard  of  1847,  and  reads  as  follows  : 

February,  1873. 

We  the  undersigned,  members  of  the  medical  profession  in  Mon- 
treal, are  of  opinion — 1st,  That  a large  proportion  of  human  misery, 
poverty,  disease,  and  crime,  is  produced  by  the  use  of  alcoholic 
liquors  as  a beverage.  2d,  That  total  abstinence  from  intoxicat- 
ing liquors,  whether  fermented  or  distilled,  is  consistent  with,  and 
conducive  to,  the  highest  degree  of  physical  and  mental  health  and 
vigor.  3d,  That  abstinence  from  intoxicating  liquors  would  greatly 
promote  the  health,  morality  and  happiness  of  the  people. 


122 


the  temperance  movement. 


1 will  now  insert  the  following  International  Declaration, 
which  was  made  appropriately  at  Philadelphia  on  America 
soil.  The  International  Medical  Congress,  the  highest  medi- 
cal body  in  the  world,  held  its  session  at  Philadelphia,  in 
September,  1876,  and  I find  the  following  in  the  official  report 
of  its  proceedings  on  the  16th  of  that  month  : 

The  following  is  the  report,  from  the  section  on  medicine, 
on  the  paper  of  Dr.  E.  M.  Hunt,  on  "Alcohol  in  its  thera- 
peutic relations  as  a food  and  a medicine.” 

First — Alcohol  is  not  shown  to  have  a definite  food  value  by  any 
of  the  usual  methods  of  chemical  analysis  or  physiological  investi- 
gation. 

Second — Its  use  as  a medicine  is  chiefly  as  a cardiac  (relating  to 
the  heart)  stimulant,  and  often  admits  of  substitution. 

Third — As  a medicine  it  is  not  well  fitted  for  self-prescription  by 
the  laity,  and  the  medical  profession  is  not  accountable  for  such 
administration  or  for  the  enormous  evils  resulting  therefrom. 

Fourth — The  purity  of  alcoholic  liquors  is  in  general  not  as  well 
assured  as  that  of  articles  used  for  medicine  should  be.  The  various 
mixtures  when  used  as  medicine  should  have  definite  and  known 
composition,  and  should  not  be  interchanged  promiscuously. 

Please  note  that  this  supreme  authority  says  that  alcohol  is 
not  known  to  have  food  value  and  that  its  principal  use  as  a 
medicine  is  to  stimulate  the  heart,  not  to  create  power  by 
nutrition,  but  to  use  up  the  capital  of  the  body  with  unnatural 
rapidity,  and  even  for  this  purpose  something  else  might  gen- 
erally be  substituted. 

Has  there  been  any  proof  discovered  since  that  time  that 
alcohol  is  a food?  On  the  contrary,  all  the  increased  light 
which  comes  streaming  in  upon  us  from  every  direction  is 
to  the  effect  that  it  is  not  even  a medicine,  save  only  as  any 
other  virulent  poison  may  be  a medicine — certainly  not  an 
indispensable  one,  and  doing  on  the  aggregate  vastly  more 
hurt  than  good  by  the  admission  of  all. 

We  have  also  the  Medical  Declaration  of  Xew  York,  Brook- 
lyn and  vicinity,  which  is  one  of  the  briefest  and  best  ever 
issued : 

1.  In  view  of  the  alarming  prevalence  and  ill  effects  of  intemper- 
ance, with  which  none  are  so  familiar  as  members  of  the  medical 
profession,  and  which  have  called  forth  from  eminent  English  phy- 


THE  NEW  YORK  MEDICAL  DECLARATION. 


123 


8icians  the  voice  of  warning  to  the  people  of  Great  Britain  con- 
cerning the  use  of  alcoholic  beverages,  we,  the  undersigned, 
members  of  the  medical  profession  of  New  York  and  vicinity,  unite 
in  the  declaration  that  we  believe  alcohol  should  be  classed  with 
other  powerful  drugs  ; that  when  prescribed  medicinally  it  should 
be  with  conscientious  caution  and  a sense  of  grave  responsibility. 

2.  We  are  of  opinion  that  the  use  of  alcoholic  liquor  as  a bever- 
age is  productive  of  a large  amount  of  physicial  disease  ; that  it 
entails  diseased  appetites  upon  offspring  ; and  that  it  is  the  cause  of 
a large  percentage  of  the  crime  and  pauperism  of  our  cities  and 
country. 

3.  We  would  welcome  any  judicious  and  effective  legislation — 
state  and  national — which  should  seek  to  confine  the  traffic  in  alco- 
hol to  the  legitimate  purposes  of  medical  and  other  sciences,  art  and 
mechanism. 

This  is  signed  by  Edward  Delafield,  M.  D.,  president  Col- 
lege of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  and  of  Roosevelt  Hospital; 
Willard  Parker,  M.  D.,  ex-president  Academy  of  Medicine; 
A.  Clark,  M.D.,  professor  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons 
and  senior  physician  Bellevue  Hospital ; James  Anderson, 
M.  D. , No.  30  University  place,  ex-president  Academy  of  Medi- 
cine and  president  Physicians’  Mutual  Aid  Association  ; E.  R. 
Peaslee,  M.  D.,  ex-president  Academy  of  Medicine,  New 
York;  C.  R.  Agnew,  M.D.,  ex-president  Medical  Society  ot 
the  State  of  New  York;  Stephen  Smith,  M.  D.,  surgeon 
Bellevue  Hospital,  commissioner  of  health,  and  president 
American  Health  Association  ; Alfred  C.  Post,  M.  D.,  LL.  D., 
professor  of  surgery  in  University  Medical  College  and  ex- 
president New  York  Academy  of  Medicine  ; E.  D.  Hudson, 
Jr.,  M.  D.,  professor  of  Theory  and  Practice  of  Medicine, 
Woman’s  Medical  College  of  New  York  Infirmary  ; Erasmus 
D.  Hudson,  M.  D.,  physician  and  surgeon;  Elisha  Harris, 
M.  D.,  secretary  American  Public  Health  Association,  late  sani- 
tary superintendent  Metropolitan  Board  of  Health,  and  corre- 
sponding secretary  Prison  Association  of  N.  York  ; Ellsworth 
Eliot,  M.  I).,  president  of  the  New  York  County  Medical 
Society;  Stephen  Rogers,  M.  D.,  president  of  the  Medico- 
Legal  Society  of  New  York  ; Andrew  II.  Smith,  M.D.,  visit- 
ing physician  to  St.  Luke’s  Hospital,  etc.  ; J.  E.  Janvrin, 
M.  D.,  Verranus  Morse,  M.D.,  Brooklyn  ; E.  T.  Richardson, 
M.  D.,  Brooklyn;  William  H.  Hall,  M.  D.,  Walter  R.  Gil- 


124 


TIIE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


lette,  M.  D.,  physician  to  Charity  Hospital,  lecturer  University 
Medical  College;  J.  R.  Learning,  M.  D.,  physician  to  St. 
Luke's  Hospital,  president  University  Alumni  Association, 
emeritus  professor  of  medicine,  etc.  ; James  O.  Pond,  M.  D., 
treasurer  New  York  Academy  of  Medicine ; Theodore  L. 
Mason,  M.  D.,  consulting  surgeon  Kings  County  Inebriates’ 
Home,  consulting  surgeon  Long  Island  College  Hospital,  etc., 
and  president  Collegiate  Department  ; G.  J.  Fisher,  M.  D., 
late  vice-president  New  York  State  Medical  Society,  late 
president  Westchester  County  Medical  Society,  and  one  hun- 
dred others  of  like  character  and  standing. 

In  reply  to  personal  letters  addressed  by  me  to  some  of  the 
most  eminent  physicians  of  our  time,  I have  received  answers 
from  several,  which  I think  will  be  of  great  value  and  of  influ- 
ence with  those  who  desire  the  latest  and  highest  knowledge 
upon  the  subject  of  this  work.  I insert  these  letters,  or  such 
extracts  as  are  consistent  with  my  space,  not  with  the  purpose 
of  commenting  upon,  supporting  or  controverting  the  views 
of  the  writers — for  none  but  a fool  would  undertake  to  chatter 
among  the  gods  unless  he  were  one  of  them — but  as  present- 
ing, I think,  all  sides  of  the  subject  with  great  force. 

I suppose  no  one  will  question  that  Dr.  Alfred  Stille  is 
among  the  ablest  men  living  in  his  own  or  any  profession  ; and 
equally  eminent  a mo  112  those  who  entertain  liberal  sentiments 
in  regard  to  the  value  of  alcohol  in  medicine,  and  the  folly,  if 
not  wrong,  of  restricting  "personal  liberty”  in  its  use  by  the 
forces  of  society.  As  such  a presentation  of  that  side  of  the 
question  as  would  be  expected  from  so  eminent  an  authority 
I insert  the  following  letter  in  full. 

I may,  however,  say  that  it  is  the  only  letter  received  by 
me  which  takes  similar  ground,  and  also  that  it  will  be  observed 
that  Dr.  Stille  finds  it  necessary  to  abolish  the  distinction 
between  food  and  poison  in  order  to  maintain  his  argument, 
and  to  hold  that  "nothing  is  intrinsically  poisonous.”  I am 
sure  that  the  impression  is  very  general  among  plain  people 
that  there  is  intrinsically  a distinction  between  foods  and 
poisons.  We  all  comprehend  that  to  eat  tenfold  of  the  usual 
amount  necessary  of  wholesome  meat,  highly  seasoned  with 
spices  and  condiments  to  make  it  palatable,  would  be  glut- 
tony ; but  I am  sure  that  no  preparation  or  quantity  of  arsenic 


DR.  STILUS  OPINION. 


125 


or  strychnine  or  even  opium,  however  large  or  small,  would 
ever  be  considered  by  the  people  as  food,  although  it  might 
be  a very  good  medicine.  Food  is  necessary  when  we  are 
perfectly  well ; no  medicine  is  good  for  a person  who  is  per- 
fectly well ; at  least  prussic  acid,  although  a medicine,  has  not 
generally  been  thought  to  be  "intrinsically,”  even  in  the 
most  limited  quantities,  a food  for  persons  in  health. 

It  is  difficult  to  comprehend  how,  without  a license  in  the 
use  of  words  which  confounds  all  forms  of  expression  and  the 
ideas  behind  them,  there  can  be  food  or  nutrition  in  arsenic 
or  pans  green.  But  those  who  find  comfort  in  these  views  of 
Dr.  Stille  will  have  occasion  to  economize  the  whole  of,  it  or, 
after  they  have  read  his  picture  of  the  generality  and  extent 
of  the  abuse  of  alcohol,  and  his  method  of  disposing  of  those 
who  thus  trespass  upon  natural  laws  and  the  welfare  of  society, 
they  will  close  their  account  with  scant  satisfaction. 

It  may  further  be  observed  that  Dr.  Stille  also  reasons 
upon  the  common  assumption  that  the  unnatural  and  acquired 
appetite  for  alcohol  is  instinctive  and  ineradicable  like  the 
indispensable  natural  passions  and  religious  impulses.  Again, 
Power  instinctively  enslaves,  and  slavery  of  the  weak  to  the 
strong  was  once  universal.  Was  its  abolition,  therefore, 
wrong  ? 

The  question,  whether  society  ought  not  for  the  general 
good  to  prohibit  the  making  and  use  as  a mere  beverage  of 
that  for  which  there  are  so  many  innocent  substitutes,  presses 
upon  the  mind  with  great  force  after  reading  this  strong  letter. 
No  man  ought  to  be  permitted  to  exercise  a non-essential 
privilege — to  drink  that  which  is  not  necessary  for  his  own 
health — when  his  example  destroys  so  many  others.  If  he 
may,  then,  without  necessity  or  benefit  to  himself,  he  may 
destroy  others.  This  is  a moral,  and  might  well  be  made  a 
legal  wrong.  It  is  conceded  that  he  may  drink  alcohol  for 
disease,  for  that  is  medicinal  use. 


3900  Spruce  Street,  ) 
Philadelphia,  June  27,  1887.  i 

My  Dear  Sir: — I had  to-day  the  honor  of  receiving  from  you  a 
letter  in  which  you  request  my  opinion  upon  the  following  points  : 
1.  Whether  alcohol  is  a poison  or  a food? 


126 


the  temperance  movement. 


2.  Under  what  circumstances,  if  any,  it  is  useful,  or  necessary, 
or  indispensable,  as  a drink  or  a medicine? 

3.  ike  discussion  in  regard  to  alcohol  must  naturally  turn  upon 
the  attitude  of  your  (the  medical)  profession  towards  it. 

I beg  to  state  that  I have  discussed  these  questions  as  completely 
as  I was  able  in  two  of  my  works,  viz.:  “ Therapeutics ” and 
Materia  Med  lea , 4th  eel.,  1874,  vol.  ii. , p.  710  and  p.  723,  under 
the  titles  of  “ Wine  and  Alcohol  ” ; and  also  in  the  National  Dispen- 
satory, 4th  ed.,  1886,  under  corresponding  titles.  In  these  papers 
copious  illustrations  and  references  may  be  found. 

To  answer  specifically  your  questions,  I would  say  : 

1.  Alcohol  is  food.  Like  any  other  food  it  may  become  injurious 
to  life  and  sometimes  a poison.  Nothing  is  intrinsically  poisonous. 
The  substances  reckoned  as  poisons  become  so  only  when  unduly 
taken — i.  e.,  in  regard  to  the  dose  and  the  individual.  Many  poisons 
are  precious  medicines.  The  most  wholesome  foods  used  in  excess 
may  become  a directly  fatal  poison,  or  by  such  habitual  use  bring 
on  disease  and  death. 

2.  The  circumstances  that  render  alcohol  useful,  necessary'  or 
indispensable  as  a medicine  are  numberless  and  can  only  be 
described  in  a medical  treatise,  as  I have  attempted  to  do  in  the 
volumes  referred  to.  I will  only  add  in  direct  reply  to  your  inquiry 
that  alcohol  is  often  useful,  and  sometimes  not  only  necessary  but 
indispensable,  in  the  treatment  of  disease.  I do  not  believe  that  it 
possesses  these  qualities  as  a drink— by  which  I understand  a 
habitual  beverage — because  it  is  notorious  that  a great  many  persons 
enjoy  good  health,  and  notably  women  and  children,  without  using 
alcohol  as  a drink.  But  such  facts  do  not  conclude  against  the  use 
of  alcohol  by  adult  men,  even  as  “ a drink.”  They  have  no  more 
weight  than  the  argument  against  the  use  of  flesh-food,  drawn 
from  the  fact  that  the  Buddhists,  who  equal  in  number  all  the  Chris- 
tians in  the  world,  live  on  vegetable  food  and  milk  alone.  Or,  to 
take  a more  directly  pertinent  illustration,  no  more  weight  than  that 
most  decaying  race  in  the  old  world,  the  Mohammedan,  is  the  only 
one  whose  religion  interdicts  the  use  of  alcoholic  drinks.  The  use 
of  alcohol  is  universal,  and  must,  therefore,  be  instinctive.  There 
is  not  a nation  nor  a tribe,  however  barbarous,  that  has  not  made 
use  of  alcohol  in  some  form  ; and  even  the  Arabs,  who  are  now,  in 
common  with  all  Mohammedans,  forbidden  its  use,  were  the  first  to 
distil  alcohol  and  introduce  it  into  Europe.  The  argument  extra 
abuse  is  an  old  fallacy.  It  is  not  logical  to  condemn  or  banish  alco- 
hol because  it  may  be  admitted  to  give  rise  to  more  sin  and  crime 
than  any7  other  single  cause  in  times  of  peace.  But  this  and  kindred 
facts  do  not  palliate  the  fanaticism  that  substitutes  molasses  and 


Rodney  C.  Gambrell , 

77t-  Mississippi  Martyr. 


DR.  DAVIS  ON  THE  OTHER  SIDE. 


127 


water  for  wine  in  the  Lord’s  Supper,  or  the  ignorance  that  advocates 
the  use  of  such  wine  only  as  is  free  from  alcohol  when  it  is  certain 
that  wine  cannot  exist  without  alcohol.  The  argument  so  misused 
would  justify  universal  celibacy  by  the  misery,  immediate  and 
entailed,  of  unhappy  marriages;  would  justify  absolute  non-inter- 
course between  the  sexes  because  diseases,  degradation  and  crime 
are  entailed  by  certain  conditions  of  that  intercourse  ; would  even 
proscribe  religion,  because,  far  beyond  all  other  courses,  it  has  been 
the  origin  or  the  parent  of  the  bloodiest  and  most  destructive  wars 
that  ever  desolated  mankind,  and  arrested  the  growth  of  civiliza- 
tion. 

To  counteract  an  evil  by  excess,  the  best  way  is  not,  and  ought 
not  to  be,  to  inflict  punishment  on  the  innocent,  but  to  prevent  the 
existence,  or  repress  the  growth,  of  the  evil  by  punishing  those  who 
are  guilty  of  it.  It  is  in  vain  to  preach  temperance  when  at  every 
corner  is  established  a legalized  temptation  to  debauchery.  It  is 
almost  as  vain  to  press  moral  or  religious  advice  upon  intemperate 
men  and  women  who  are  not  only  a burden  and  a plague,  but  a per- 
petual corruption,  to  the  community.  In  my  opinion  such  pestilent 
persons  should,  by  due  process  cf  law  well  guarded  from  abuse,  be 
deprived  of  their  citizenship  and  made  incapable  of  performing  any 
valid  legal  act. 

The  medical  profession,  above  all  other  classes  of  society,  has  an 
opportunity  to  observe  and  deplore  the  consequences  of  alcoholic 
as  well  as  of  other  forms  of  intemperance.  But,  as  medicine  is  a 
free  science  and  art,  and  is  not  hedged  in  by  dogmas  as  theologians 
are,  nor  controlled  by  judicial  precedents  as  lawyers  are,  a precise 
accord  among  physicians  is  not  to  be  expected  either  in  scientific 
opinions  as  to  the  nature  and  causes  of  intemperance,  or  in  regard 
to  the  practical  measures  fitted  to  mitigate  its  evils.  And,  if  this  be 
true  of  the  wisest  and  most  judicious  among  them,  how  much  truer 
must  it  be  of  those  who  have  more  zeal  than  knowledge  or  discre- 
tion. Where  the  latter  would  override  every  obstacle  in  the  direct 
road  to  their  goal,  the  former  are  more  apt  to  regard  ethical  and 
social  questions  in  the  light  of  experience  as  well  as  science  ; and 
while  inculcating  temperance  in  all  things  they  do  not,  as  a body, 
either  disapprove  of  the  use  of  alcohol  as  a medicine  or  regard  its 
use  as  physiologically  an  error. 

I have  the  honor  to  be,  very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

Hon.  Henry  W.  Blair,  Alfred  Stille. 

U.  S.  Senate,  Washington. 


The  name  of  N.  S.  Davis,  M.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Professor  of 


128 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


Practical  and  Clinical  Medicine  in  the  Chicago  Medical 
College,  Medical  Department  of  Northwestern  University, 
the  "Father  of  the  American  Medical  Association,”  is  well 
known  on  both  continents,  not  only  for  his  great  learn- 
ing, experience  and  skill  in  his  profession  generally,  but 
for  the  special  attention  he  has  given,  during  the  last  half- 
century,  to  the  investigation  of  the  very  question  under  dis- 
cussion. It  is  not  necessary  to  demonstrate  the  truth  more 
than  once,  and  one  witness  to  a fact  is  as  good  as  many.  But 
he  must  be  a good  witness  ; he  must  know  and  we  must 
believe.  Dr.  Davis  is  one  of  many  who  have  demonstrated 
that  in  all  the  exigences  of  wide  practice  alcohol  is  now  need- 
less. Once  it  may  have  been  different,  but  the  numerous  dis- 
coveries of  other  equally  efficacious  and  comparatively  harm- 
less remedies  has  now  made  it  easy  to  dispense  with  alcohol 
even  as  a medicine.  It  can  still  be  used  as  such,  but  it  is  no 
longer  necessary.  If  not  necessary  even  as  a medicine,  cer- 
tainly as  a beverage,  a luxury,  it  should  be  destroyed.  Again 
it  should  be  remembered  that  the  science  of  medicine  is  one 
of  vast  ramifications.  In  every  one  of  many  specialties  there 
is  room  for  the  constant  and  life-long  exercise  of  the  great- 
est abilities,  and  Dr.  Davis  has  directed  his,  largely,  to 
the  investigation  and  settlement  of  the  all-important  questions 
growing  out  of  the  relations  of  alcohol  to  humanity. 


Chicago,  III.,  65  Randolph,  St., 
July  30,  1SS7. 


Dear  Sir  : — In  reply  to  your  inquiries  I inclose  for  you  a brief 
printed  paper  written  by  me  not  long  since,  because  it  will  give  you  a 
much  clearer  expression  of  my  views  in  regard  to  the  effects  of  alcoholic 
liquors  in  the  human  system  and  their  true  relations  to  the  treatment 
of  diseases  than  I could  possibly  embrace  in  a single  letter.  I have 
been  constantly  engaged  in  the  practice  of  medicine  a little  more  than 
fifty  years , embracing  both  private  and  public  hospital  practice,  and 
have  demonstrated  by  the  last  forty  years  of  actual  experience  that  no 
form  of  alcoholic  drink,  either  fermented  or  distilled,  is  necessary  or 
desirable  for  internal  use  in  either  health  or  in  any  of  the  varied  forms 
of  disease  ; but  that  health  can  be  better  preserved  and  disease  be 
more  successfully  treated  without,  any  use  of  such  drinks.  With  much 
respect,  Yours  truly, 

Hon.  Henry.  W.  Blair.  N.  S.  Davis. 

U.  S.  Senate,  Washington. 


DU.  DAVIS’  ARGUMENT. 


129 


The  following  is  the  paper  referred  to  by  Dr.  Davis : 

By  alcoholic  liquors  in  the  following  paper  is  meant  all  the  varieties 
of  fermented  and  distilled  preparations  containing  alcohol,  such  as  beer, 
ale,  porter,  wine,  whisky,  brandy,  rum,  gin,  etc.  ; and  my  principal 
object  is  to  give  an  intelligible  answer  to  the  often-repeated  inquiry 
whether  any  one  or  all  of  these  articles  ai-e  really  necessary  for  use  in 
the  practice  of  medicine  where  the  paramount  objects  are  to  prevent, 
to  palliate,  or  to  cure,  disease  in  the  safest  and  most  expeditious  man- 
ner. To  do  this  properly  three  preliminary  questions  must  be  consid- 
ered, and,  if  possible,  settled  on  a basis  of  well-ascertained  facts : 

1.  Do  any  of  these  liquids  contain  ingredients  of  value  to  the  sick, 
besides  the  alcohol  they  contain,  that  cannot  be  furnished  just  as  well 
from  other  sources? 

2.  What  are  the  appreciable  effects  of  alcohol  on  the  human  system 
both  in  health  and  disease  ? 

3.  What  are  the  conditions  in  sickness  that  it  is  calculated  to  re- 
move ? 

Every  one  who  has  given  careful  attention  to  the  subject  will 
promptly  answer  the  first  question  in  the  negative. 

That  the  different  varieties  of  beer  and  other  fermented  drinks  con- 
tain a small  amount  of  fsecula  or  modified  starch,  sugar  and  a little 
saline  matter  capable  of  being  appropriated  as  nourishment  is  true ; 
but  the  quantity  is  so  small  that  it  is  practically  useless. 

The  careful  and  repeated  analyses  of  different  varieties  of  beer  made 
by  Liebig,  Playfair,  Hassels,  and  others,  show  that  it  would  require 
the  drinking  of  more  than  six  barrels  of  beer  to  get  enough  of  the 
nutritive  materials  just  named  to  make  the  equivalent  of  one  ordinary 
loaf  of  bread.  Hence  no  well-informed  person  would  think  of  using 
those  drinks  to  obtain  fcecula,  sugar  or  saline  matters  Avhen  the  same 
materials  could  be  obtained  so  much  more  readily  and  cheaply  from 
other  sources.  The  same  remark  is  equally  applicable  to  the  active 
principle  of  hops  in  beer,  and  that  of  juniper  in  gin.  An  infusion  or 
tea  prepared  from  one  pennyworth  of  cither  would  exert  more  influ- 
ence than  could  be  obtained  from  the  same  ingredients  as  they  exist  in 
a gallon  of  beer  or  a quart  of  gin.  We  may  repeat,  therefore,  with 
emphasis,  that  there  are  no  elements  in  any  of  the  fermented  and  dis- 
tilled liquors  in  sufficient  quantity  to  be  of  the  slightest  value,  cither 
as  nourishment  or  medicine,  except  the  alcohol  and  water.  So  true  is 
this  that  one  would  search  the  world  over  in  vain  to  find  anyone  using 
a specimen  of  fermented  or  distilled  liquid  after  the  alcohol  generated 
by  the  fermentation  had  been  separated  from  it. 

Assuming  it  to  be  a fact  that  it  is  the  alcohol  in  all  these  liquids, 
and  that  alone,  which  is  capable  of  exerting  any  important  influence 

9 


130 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


upon  the  human  system,  I shall  proceed  to  answer  the  second  question 
— namely,  What  are  the  appreciable  effects  of  alcohol  on  the  human 
system  both  in  health  and  disease?  Having  made  this  question  one  of 
special  study  and  observation  for  more  than  forty  years,  I could  easily 
fill  a moderate-sized  volume  with  the  details  of  experiments,  clinical 
observations  and  facts  bearing  upon  the  subject  and  affording  an 
ample  basis  for  the  conclusions  I shall  briefly  state  in  this  paper.  I 
well  remember  when,  in  accordance  with  the  simple  and  fascinating 
chemico-physiological  doctrines  of  Liebig  and  his  school,  alcoholic 
liquors  were  classed  with  the  hydro-carbons  as  “respiratory  food,”  and 
almost  universally  regarded  as  capable  of  increasing  the  temperature 
of  the  human  body,  and  of  stimulating  all  its  functions.  But  when  the 
investigations  of  Drs.  Prout,  of  London,  Sandras  and  Bouchardet,  of 
France,  and  Boker,  of  Germany,  confirmed  by  many  others,  had 
fully  established  the  fact  that  during  the  presence  of  alcohol  in  the 
system  the  elimination  of  carbonic-acid  gas  from  the  lungs  was  dimin- 
ished, together  with  a general  diminution  of  waste  matter  from  all  the 
excretory  organs,  the  idea  of  combustion  or  “ respiratory  food  ” had  to 
be  abandoned.  This  abandonment  of  the  stimulating  and  heat-pro- 
ducing qualities  of  alcoholic  drinks  was  rendered  more  complete  when, 
in  1850,  the  writer  of  this  paper  proved  by  a carefully-executed  series 
of  experiments,  in  which  the  direct  application  of  the  thermometer  was 
made  to  the  subject  operated  on,  that  the  presence  of  alcohol  actually 
reduced  the  temperature  of  the  body,  and  lessened  the  action  of  all  the 
smaller  blood-vessels  by  lessening  the  sensibility  of  the  vase-motor 
nerves. 

These  results  have  since  been  fully  established  by  the  experimental 
investigations  of  Drs.  B.  W.  Richardson  and  Anstie,  of  England,  and 
Dr.  Hammond,  myself  and  others  in  this  country.  But  no  sooner  had 
the  most  carefully-conducted  scientific  investigations  proved  the  entire 
fallacy  of  the  doctrine,  that  alcohol  was  capable  of  stimulating  or 
increasing  the  functions  and  temperature  of  the  human  body,  than  the 
advocates  of  its  use  reversed  the  grounds  on  which  such  advocacy  was- 
based.  Accepting  the  well-established  fact  that  the  presence  of  alcohol 
in  the  system  directly  diminishes  both  the  molecular  changes  and  nerve 
sensibility,  thereby  retarding  tissue  changes,  they  claim  that  such 
retardation  of  molecular  changes  and  excretory  eliminations,  by  retard- 
ing the  waste , was  equivalent  to  the  same  amount  of  supply,  and  con- 
sequently that  alcoholic  drinks  were  “ indirect  food.”  As  stated  by 
Dr.  Hammond,  if  the  presence  of  alcohol,  taken  in  the  form  of  alcoholic 
drinks,  lessened  the  sum  total  of  eliminations  from  the  human  body 
to  the  extent  of  half  a pound  in  twenty-four  hours,  it  was  equivalent 
in  value  to  half  a pound  of  food  taken.  This  idea,  thus  originating 
with  men  of  known  scientific  reputation,  rapidly  became  popular,  and 


Dli.  DAVIS’  ARGUMENT. 


131 


again  furnished  all  classes  with  a plausible  reason  for  taking  whatever 
alcoholic  beverage  their  taste  or  fancy  might  dictate.  But  a critical 
examination  will  show  that  this  position  rests  on  no  better  foundation 
than  the  preceding  one  of  combustion  and  increased  heat.  That  the 
presence  of  alcohol  in  the  system  actually  retards  molecular  changes, 
and  consequently  diminishes  the  aggregate  amount  of  waste  in  a given 
time,  is  a well-established  fact ; but  the  inference  drawn  from  this  that 
such  diminution  of  waste  is  equivalent  to  the  addition  of  an  equal 
amount  of  new  matter  through  the  processes  of  digestion  and  assimila- 
tion is  entirely  fallacious. 

Those  who  have  drawn  this  inference  have  apparently  forgotten  two 
of  the  most  important  physiological  laws  relating  to  animal  life — name- 
ly, first,  that  all  the  active  phenomena  of  life  depend  upon,  and  directly 
involve,  molecular  changes,  and  consequently  necessitate  both  waste 
and  supply  ; second,  that  every  cell  or  organized  atom  of  living  animal 
matter  has  only  a limited  duration  of  integrity  or  life,  at  the  end  of 
which  it  must  either  undergo  a natural  disintegration  into  waste  mat- 
ter, or  degenerate  into  an  unhealthy  and  lower  type  of  organization. 
Therefore,  whatever  retards  the  natural  molecular  changes  in  living 
tissues  retards  or  lessens  the  phenomena  of  life,  as  seen  in  the  diminu- 
tion of  secretion,  excretion,  temperature,  and  nerve  sensibility  ; and 
by  retaining  cells  and  organized  atoms  beyond  the  natural  limit  of  time 
directly  promotes  their  degeneration  into  materials  of  a useless  or  posi- 
tively injurious  character,  as  when  nervous,  muscular  or  secretory 
structure  changes  into  atheromatous,  fatty,  caseous,  or  septic  materials, 
instead  of  undergoing  natural  dissolution  and  excretion  as  waste  mat- 
ter. Hence,  the  prevention  of  a certain  amount  of  waste  of  living 
structure  in  a given  time  is  in  no  proper  sense  physiologically  equiva- 
lent to  the  addition  of  an  equal  amount  of  new  material  by  nutrition 
in  the  same  time.  On  the  contrary,  both  experiments  and  common 
observations  show  that  whenever  such  mental  or  physical  exercise  is 
continued  as  naturally  increases  tissue  changes  and  waste,  and  these 
are  retarded  or  prevented  by  the  presence  of  some  agent  capable  of 
exerting  such  an  influence,  derangements  of  structure  or  function  invari- 
ably follow.  Assuming  the  foregoing  statements  to  be  correct,  it  is  not 
difficult  to  understand  the  important  effects  of  alcohol  upon  the  struct- 
ures and  functions  of  the  human  body.  Taken  into  the  stomach 
diluted  with  water,  as  in  all  the  varieties  of  the  fermented  and  distilled 
drinks,  it  is  rapidly  absorbed,  and  enters  into  the  blood  unchanged, 
and  circulates  with  it  through  all  the  organized  structures  of  the  body. 
This  has  been  proved  by  a large  number  of  analytical  examinations, 
and  the  proof  may  be  repeated  at  any  time  by  applying  the  proper 
tests  to  the  blood  or  tissues  in  from  one  to  three  hours  after  the  alco- 
holic drink  has  been  swallowed.  While  it  is  thus  present  in  the  blood, 


132 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


circulating  in  contact  with  all  the  tissues  of  the  body,  its  strong  affinity 
for  the  albuminous  constituents  they  contain  causes  it  to  hold  the  natu- 
ral molecular  changes  in  check,  and  thereby  retard  the  formation  of  the 
products  of  those  changes,  as  seen  in  the  diminution  of  temperature  and 
the  quantity  of  eliminations.  It  is  not  the  eliminations  alone  that  are 
diminished  by  this  interference  with  the  natural  affinities  of  the  blood, 
but  the  taking  up  of  the  oxygen  from  the  air-cells  of  the  lungs  is  re- 
tarded in  equal  ratio  with  the  lessening  of  the  amount  of  waste  carbonic 
acid  gas  liberated,  thereby  diminishing  the  necessary  change  from 
venous  to  arterial  blood. 

When  the  amount  of  the  alcohol  taken  is  small,  but  regularly 
repeated,  as  in  the  daily  use  of  beer  and  wine,  the  diminished  supply 
of  oxygen  to  the  tissues,  coupled  with  the  moderate  retardation  of 
Avaste,  encourages  the  accumulation  of  unoxidated  materials  in  the 
form  of  inert  fat.  This  causes  increased  Aveight  and  bulk  Avith  cor- 
responding decrease  of  activity  and  power  cf  endurance,  and  if  con- 
tinued until  past  the  middle  period  of  life  ends  in  fatty  degenerations 
in  the  coats  of  the  vessels  of  the  brain,  in  the  heart,  the  liver,  or  the 
kidneys,  by  which  the  natural  duration  of  life  is  shortened  by  ten  or 
fifteen  years.  When  the  quantity  taken  is  greater  and  more  concen- 
trated, as  in  the  free  use  of  Avhisky,  brandy,  etc.,  not  only  are  the 
molecular  changes  more  actively  retarded,  leading  to  more  rapid  tissue 
degenerations,  but  the  functions  of  the  stomach  and  brain  are  so 
actively  interfered  with  as  to  prevent  healthy  nutrition,  and  often 
induce  either  chronic  inflammations  or  delirium  tremens,  or  both. 

Another  important  effect  of  alcohol  Avhile  present  in  the  blood  is  the 
direct  diminution  of  sensibility  in  the  brain  and  nervous  structures  of 
the  body.  It  is  this  anaesthetic  effect  upon  the  cerebral  and  nervous 
structures  that  induces  all  the  series  of  changes  in  the  individual  from 
simple  don’t-care-ativeness  and  uni’estrained  hilarity  to  stupor  or 
dead-drunkenness,  Avhich  chiefly  occupies  the  attention  of  the  public. 
It  is  in  no  sense  a stimulant  or  tonic,  either  at  the  beginning,  middle 
or  end  of  its  effects,  as  is  generally  supposed,  but  exerts  a direct  seda- 
tive effect  upon  nerve  sensibility,  by  Avhich  the  mind  becomes  less  con- 
scious of  outward  impressions  of  any  kind,  Avhether  of  heat,  cold, 
Aveariness,  Aveakness  or  pain,  and  in  like  ratio  less  capable  of  exer- 
cising self-control,  or  manifesting  the  usual  sense  of  propriety. 

Finally,  the  alcohol,  having  entered  the  blood  from  the  stomach 
unchanged,  is  incapable  of  assimilation  or  appropriation  to  the  tissues 
of  the  body  as  nutritive  material,  and  is  separated  from  the  blood 
and  eliminated  as  foreign  matter  through  the  lungs,  skin,  kidneys,  and 
other  excretory  organs,  as  fullv  proved  by  the  experiments  of  Lalle- 
mand,  Perrin  and  Duroy,  Richardson,  Hammond.  Anstie,  and  many 
others.  It  is  true  that  the  tAvo  last-named  experimenters  claim  that 


VARIOUS  STIMULANTS. 


133 


all  the  alcohol  taken  is  not  again  excreted  without  change,  but  that  an 
adult  individual  is  capable  of  retaining  in  some  way  a small  quantity, 
averaging,  according  to  Dr.  Anstie,  from  four  hundred  to  six  hundred 
grains  of  alcohol  in  the  twenty-four  hours.  This  small  quantity, 
equal  only  to  about  one  ounce,  was  supposed  by  these  gentlemen  to  be 
used  up  in  the  generation  of  some  kind  of  force,  but  what  kind  of 
force  remains  a mystery.  The  truth  is  that  the  loss  of  such  an 
amount  of  alcohol  from  a given  quantity  circulating  with  the  blood 
during  twenty-four  hours  is  no  more  than  might  be  held  in  mere 
mechanical  union  with  the  albuminous  constituents  of  the  tissues,  for 
which  it  has  a strong  affinity;  and  the  only  force  it  develops  is  the 
catalytic  force  of  inertia,  by  which  it  holds  in  check  those  natural 
molecular  changes  that  would  take  place  were  it  not  present.  Without 
further  explanations,  the  effects  of  alcohol  upon  the  human  system 
may  be  clearly  stated  in  the  following  brief  paragraphs : 

1.  It  is  absorbed  from  the  stomach,  and  circulates  with  the  blood, 
and  is  finally  eliminated  through  the  excretory  organs  as  a foreign 
agent  incapable  of  either  digestion  or  assimilation. 

2.  While  present  in  the  blood  it  acts  directly  as  an  anaesthetic, 
diminishing  the  sensibility  and  force  of  both  the  cerebro-spinal  and 
vaso-motor  nervous  centers  ; and  as  an  organic  sedative,  diminishing 
molecular  changes  in  the  tissues  and  excretory  organs,  lessening  the 
evolution  of  heat,  and  remotely  favoring  tissue  degenerations  and 
accumulations  of  waste  material  in  the  system. 

This  leads  us  to  the  third  and  last  question  proposed  at  the  com- 
mencement of  this  paper — namely,  What  are  the  conditions  in  sick- 
ness that  alcoholic  liquids  are  calculated  to  remove? 

In  the  foregoing  brief  review  it  has  been  shown  that  alcohol  acts 
upon  the  human  system  as  an  ana3Sthetic,  organic  sedative  and  anti- 
pyretic, and  a skillful  physician  may  use  it  in  any  case  of  disease 
where  either  or  all  these  effects  are  needed,  provided  he  cannot  have 
at  hand  any  other  agent  or  agents  with  which  he  can  accomplish  the 
same  purposes  more  promptly  and  with  less  danger  of  any  collateral 
injury  to  his  patient.  This  proviso,  however,  if  honestly  attended  to, 
will  practically  exclude  alcohol  from  the  list  of  ordinary  remedial 
agents. 

As  an  ancesthetic  and  anodyne,  all  will  agree  that  it  is  far  inferior 
to,  and  less  manageable  than,  ether,  chloroform,  nitrous  oxide,  and 
the  ordinary  narcotics. 

As  an  organic  sedative  and  anti-pyretic  it  is  so  much  less  prompt  and 
efficient  in  its  action  than  either  water  applied  externally  or  the  inter- 
nal use  of  quinine,  salicylic  acid,  digitalis,  and  a score  of  other  articles, 
that  no  well-informed  practitioner  would  think  of  selecting  it  for  these 
purposes.  Really,  at  the  present  time,  there  are  but  two  pretenses,  or 


134 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


supposed  morbid  conditions,  for  which  alcoholic  remedies  are  pre- 
scribed by  the  enlighted  part  of  the  profession.  One  of  these  is 
that  popularly  prevalent  condition  of  exhaustion  or  impairment  from 
overwork,  mental  or  physical,  or  from  excessive  drains  by  nm’sing  or 
unnatural  discharges. 

It  is  in  this  large  class  of  half-invalids  that  the  moderate  daily  use 
of  beer,  ale,  Avine,  and  occasionally  stronger  alcoholic  drinks  is  pre- 
scribed, on  the  plea  that  their  power  to  retard  the  Avaste  tissues  is 
conservative  and  equivalent  to  the  addition  of  neAV  matter  by  assimi- 
lation, the  utter  fallacy  of  which  Ave  have  already  indicated  Avith 
sufficient  clearness. 

The  other  morbid  condition  for  which  these  agents  are  very  generally 
prescribed  is  that  Aveakncss  of  the  heart  sometimes  met  Avith  in  low 
forms  of  fever  and  in  the  advanced  stage  of  other  acute  diseases. 

It  is  claimed  that  alcohol  is  capable  of  strengthening  and  sustaining 
the  action  of  the  heart  under  the  circumstances  just  named,  and  also 
under  the  first  depressing  influence  of  severe  shock. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  ascertained  physiological  action  of  alcohol 
on  the  human  system,  as  developed  by  a Avide  range  of  experimental 
investigation,  to  sustain  this  claim.  Indeed,  it  is  difficult  to  conceive 
how  it  is  possible  that  an  agent  Avhich  so  plainly  and  directly  diminishes 
nerve  sensibility  and  voluntary  muscular  action  can  at  the  same  time 
act  as  a cordial  or  heart-tonic.  I haA-e  used  the  sphygmograph  and 
every  other  available  means  for  testing  experimentally  the  effects  of 
alcohol  upon  the  action  of  the  heart  and  bloodvessels  generally,  but 
have  failed  in  CA'ery  instance  to  get  proof  of  any  increased  force  of 
cardiac  action. 

The  first  and  very  transient  effect  is  generally  increased  frequency 
of  beat,  folloAved  immediately  by  dilatation  of  the  peripheral  A-essels 
from  impaired  A'aso-motor  sensibility  and  the  same  unsteady  or  Avavy 
sphygmographic  tracing  as  is  given  in  typhoid  fever,  and  which  is  usual- 
ly regarded  as  evidence  of  cardiac  debility.  Sometimes  Avhen  the  doses 
of  alcohol  are  increased  to  the  extent  of  decided  anaesthesia  the  heart 
acts  sloAArer  and  the  arteries  haA_c  more  A'olume  from  the  increased  ob- 
struction to  the  movement  of  the  blood  through  the  capillaries  and 
smaller  A'cssels,  and  the  diminished  oxAgenafion  and  decarbonization 
of  the  blood  in  the  lungs.  Turning  from  the  field  of  experimentation 
to  the  sick-room,  my  search  for  eA'idences  of  the  poAver  of  alcohol  to 
sustain  the  force  of  the  heart  or  in  any  Avay  to  strengthen  the  patient 
lias  been  equally  unsuccessful.  I Avas  educated  and  entered  upon  the 
practice  of  medicine,  at  a time  Avhen  alcoholic  drinks  Avere  universally 
regarded  as  stimulating  and  heat-producing  in  their  influence  on  the 
human  system,  and  commenced  their  use  Avithout  prejudice  or  precon- 
ceived notions.  But  the  first  ten  years  of  direct  clinical  or  practical 


ALCOHOLIC  REMEDIES  A CONCESSION  TO  PREJUDICE.  135 


observation  satisfied  me  fully  of  the  incorrectness  of  those  views,  and 
very  nearly  banished  the  use  of  these  agents  from  my  list  of  remedies. 
And  while  it  is  true  that  during  the  last  thirty  years  I have  not  pre- 
scribed for  internal  use  the  aggregate  amount  of  one  quart  of  any 
kind  of  fermented  or  distilled  drinks,  either  in  private  or  hospital  prac- 
tice, yet  I have  continued  to  have  abundant  opportunities  for  observ- 
ing the  effects  of  these  agents  as  given  by  others  with  whom  I have 
been  in  council ; and  simple  truth  compels  vie  to  say  that  I have  never 
yet  seen  a case  in  which  the  use  of  alcoholic  drinks  either  increased  the 
force  of  the  heart’s  action  or  strengthened  the  patient  beyond  the  first 
thirty  minutes  after  it  was  swallowed. 

But  I could  detail  very  many  cases  in  which  the  free  administration 
of  alcoholic  remedies  was  quieting  the  patient’s  restlessness,  enfeebling 
the  capillary  and  peripheral  circulation,  and  steadily  favoring  increas- 
ed passive  or  hypostatic  engorgements  of  the  lungs  and  other  internal 
viscera,  and  thereby  hastening  a fatal  result,  where  both  attending 
physicians  and  friends  thought  they  were  the  only  agents  that  were 
keeping  the  patient  alive.  Yet,  persuading  the  abandonment  of  their 
use  and  the  substitution  of  simple  nourishment,  aided  by  such  nerve- 
excitants  as  tea,  coffee,  carbonate  of  ammonia,  camphor,  strychnia, 
etc.,  judiciously  administered,  instead  of  further  prostration  or  sinking 
in  consequence  of  such  withdrawal,  there  has  generally  been  a slow  but 
steady  improvement  in  all  cases  where  improvement  was  possible,  and 
in  no  case  has  it  been  found  necessary  or  advisable  to  return  to  the 
use  of  the  alcoholic  articles  after  they  had  been  abandoned.  If  I’am 
asked  why , under  such  a statement  of  facts,  the  profession  continues  to 
prescribe  these  drinks , I answer , simply  from  the  force  of  habit  and 
traditional  education , coupled  with  a reluctance  to  risk  the  experiment 
of  omitting  them  while  the  general  popular  notions  sanction  their  use. 
Nothing  is  easier  than  self-deception  in  this  matter.  A patient  is  sud- 
denly taken  with  syncope,  or  nervous  weakness,  from  which  abundant 
experience  has  shown  that  a speedy  recovery  would  take  place  by  sim- 
ple rest  and  fresh  air.  But  in  the  alarm  of  patients  and  friends  some- 
thing must  be  done.  A little  wine  or  brandy  is  given,  and,  as  it  is  not 
sufficient  to  positively  prevent,  the  patient  in  due  time  revives  just  as 
would  have  been  the  case  if  neither  wine  nor  brandy  had  been  used. 

Of  course  both  doctor  and  friends  will  regard  the  so-called  stimu- 
lant as  the  cause  of  the  recovery.  So,  too,  when  patients  are  get- 
ting weak,  in  the  advanced  stage  of  fever  or  some  other  self-limited 
disease,  an  abundance  of  nourishment  is  regularly  administered,  in  the 
greater  part  of  which  is  mixed  some  kind  of  alcoholic  drink.  The 
latter  will  always  occupy  the  chief  attention,  and  if,  after  a severe  run, 
the  fever  or  disease  finally  disappears  it  will  be  said  that  the  patient 
was  sustained  or  “ kept  alive  ” for  over  two  or  three  weeks,  as  the  case 


133 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


may  be,  “ solely  by  the  stimulants,”  when,  in  fact,  if  the  same  nourish- 
ment and  care  had  been  given  without  a drop  of  alcohol  he  would  have 
convalesced  sooner  and  more  perfectly,  as  I have  seen  demonstrated  a 
thousand  times  during  the  last  thirty  years.  Indeed,  if  any  one  will 
take  the  trouble  to  examine  and  analyze  carefully  the  records  of  the 
large  general  hospitals  of  both  Europe  and  America,  for  the  last  half 
century,  I venture  the  statement  that  the  ratio  of  mortality  from  general 
fevers  and  acute  diseases  will  be  found  to  have  increased,  pari  passu , 
with  the  increase  in  the  quantity  of  alcoholic  drinks  consumed  in  their 
treatment.  A similar  examination  of  the  vital  statistics  of  different 
nations  and  communities  will  show  a close  relation  between  the  relative 
mortality  from  consumption,  scrofula,  apoplexy,  paralysis,  and  hepatic, 
cardiac  and  renal  dropsies  and  the  amount  of  alcoholic  drinks  con- 
sumed by  the  people. 

I believe  there  is  no  better  authority  in  any  country  upon 
the  subject  of  alcoholism  than  Dr.  William  Hargreaves  of 
Philadelphia.  There  is  no  branch  of  it  with  which  he  is  not 
become  familiar  by  long  and  profound  investigation,  while 
his  conservative  and  conscientious  character  joined  with 
experience  in  his  profession  both  in  war  and  peace,  unite  to 
give  weight  to  his  opinions.  His  great  works,  "Alcohol 
and  Man”  and  "Alcohol  and  Science,”  are  two  vast  arsenals 
furnished  with  every  weapon  for  the  destruction  of  the  liquor 
traffic.  I insert  his  entire  communication. 

Philadelphia,  Pa.,  July  16,  1SS7. 

Respected  Sir  : — Yours  of  June  25th  was  duly  received,  asking  my 
opinion,  Whether  on  man  alcohol  was  a poison  or  a food?  and  under 
what  circumstances,  if  any,  is  it  useful,  necessary  or  indispensable  ? 

For  more  than  fifty  years,  as  boy,  man,  medical  student,  and 
medical  practitioner  of  over  twenty-five  years,  I have  read,  investigated 
and  endeavored  to  obtain  by  observation,  experiments  and  other  means 
all  the  knowledge  obtainable  of  the  nature  and  effects  of  alcohol. 

My  own  views  of  the  subject,  and  others,  are  given  in  a limited 
extent  in  my  two  works,  “Alcohol  and  Science”  and  “Alcohol  and 
Man,”  but  I will  answer  your  questions  as  concisely  as  I can,  and 
refer  you  to  the  above-named  books  for  a more  extended  and  particular 
account  of  the  Nature  and  Effects  of  Alcohol  upon  the  human  body  and 
mind. 

Hoping  the  inclosed  statement  and  opinions  will  be  of  service  to  you 
and  the  cause  of  Truth,  Science  and  Humanity,  believe  me 
Your  very  obedient  servant, 

Hon.  Henry  IY.  Blair,  YJji.  Hargreaves,  M.  I). 

U.  S.  Senate,  Washington,  D.  C. 


Hon . Albert  Griffin , 

Chairman  Anti-Saloon  Republican  National  Committee. 


DR.  HARGREAVES’  VIEWS  ON  ALCOHOL. 


137 


Alcohol,  by  the  universal  judgment  and  consent  of  all  toxicologists, 
has  been  classed  as  a poison — an  acrid,  narcotic  poison. 

The  experiments  and  observations  of  Fontaine,  Courten,  Lonzoni, 
Baglivi,  Viborg,  Metschelich,  Jacobi,  Falck,  Percy  and  others  of 
Europe  ; Hammond  and  others  of  America,  have  shown  that  alcohol 
is  a poison  to  all  the  lower  animals. 

Poisoning  may  differ  in  degree,  according  to  the  strength  of  the 
poison  or  the  power  of  the  organism  to  resist  its  toxical  effects. 

That  alcoholic  liquors  are  poisons  is  confirmed  by  common  and 
universal  language  ; as  the  literal  meaning  of  the  term  used  to  describe 
the  condition  of  a person  under  the  influence  of  alcohol,  viz.,  intoxi- 
cated— is  poisoned,  and  is  limited  in  the  English  language  to  poisons 
acting  on  the  nervous  system.  That  alcohol  is  a poison  in  large  doses 
is  rendered  plain  by  its  action  on  the  human  body ; for  when  intro- 
duced into  the  stomach  in  sufficient  quantity,  either  in  its  pure  state, 
or  diluted,  as  rum,  gin,  whisky,  brandy,  etc.,  its  effects  are  fatal. 

Indeed  no  scientist  will  say  it  is  not  a poison  in  large  doses.  (See 
“ Alcohol  and  Science” — Alcohol  a Poison.)  It  is  very  illogical  to 
suppose  that  a substance  which  in  large  quantity  will  destroy  life 
becomes  a food  when  taken  in  smaller  doses.  There  is  no  other  agent 
known  to  science  to  which  such  properties  are  given. 

A food  may  be  said  to  be  any  substance  solid  or  fluid  necessary  to 
sustain  the  processes  of  nutrition,  or  the  absorption  of  those  materials 
which  enter  into  the  composition  of  the  frame,  or  of  others  that  may 
be  changed  into  them  in  the  interior  of  the  body. 

Dr.  Edmunds  defines  food  as  that  which  being  innocent  in  relation 
to  the  tissues  of  the  body  is  a digestible  or  absorbable  substance,  that 
can  be  oxidized  in  the  body  and  decomposed  in  such  a way  as  to  give 
up  to  the  body  the  force  which  it  contains. 

Foods  are  usually  divided  into  nitrogenous — containing  nitrogen  as 
albumen,  gluten,  etc;  and  non-nitrogenous,  not  containing  nitrogen, 
as  fats,  starch,  sugar,  vegetable  acids.  Sugar  (or  other  substances  as 
starch  that  can  be  changed  or  converted  into  sugar)  is  the  only  sub- 
stance that  can  produce  alcohol. 

One  hundred  parts  of  cane  sugar  and  water  produce,  after  fermenta- 
tion or  the  putrefaction  of  the  sugar,  50.3  to  50.27  parts  of  carbonic 
acid,  and  52.62  parts  of  alcohol.  (See  “ Alcohol  and  Science,”  p.  19.) 
It  must  be  very  clear  that  what  is  formed  by  the  decomposition  of 
sugar  cannot  contain  the  properties  of  the  sugar  destroyed.  More  than 
one  half  of  the  elements  of  the  sugar  is  lost  by  being  changed  into  car- 
bonic acid,  and  the  remaining  elements  are  changed  into  alcohol.  So 
that  if  all  the  elements  of  the  alcohol  were  ns  nutrient  as  when  in  the 
form  of  sugar,  to  say  nothing  of  the  poisonous  nature  of  alcohol,  it 
would,  as  a food,  be  less  than  half  the  value  of  sugar.  Some  have  a 


138 


TIIE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


notion  that  because  malt  liquors,  wine  and  spirits  are  made  from  food 
substances  they  must  be  food.  Let  us  examine  the  fallacy  for  a 
moment : 

If  three  bushels  of  barley,  156  lbs.,  make  a barrel  of  beer  (2  busheL 
is  used  in  England  to  make  a barrel,  and  21  bushels  in  the  United  States) 
5.2  lbs.  or  83  ounces  of  barley  will  make  a gallon,  (there  is  lost  in 
malting  20  oz.  as  malt-coons ; in  mashing  as  grains,  27.4  oz.  ; in  fer- 
menting 13.4  oz.,  in  fining,  as  barrel  bottoms,  etc.,  9 oz. : a total  loss 
of  70  ounces,  thus  leaving  in  each  gallon  of  beer  13.2  ounces  of  the 
barley,  being  chiefly  gum  worth  little  or  nothing  as  food.  Well  might 
Baron  Liebig  say,  if  a man  drink  8 or  10  quarts  of  the  best  Bavarian 
beer  (equal  to  lager  beer)  a day,  in  the  course  of  twelve  months  he 
will  have  taken  into  his  system  the  nutritive  constituents  of  a five- 
pound  loaf  of  bread. 

Alcohol  contains  three  elements — viz.,  three  parts  or  atoms  of  car- 
bon, six  parts  of  hydrogen  and  one  part  oxygen.  It  does  not  contain 
nitrogen,  and  hence  is  not  flesh-forming  food,  is  not  therefore  a food, 
in  any  sense.  But, 

Alcohol  like  fat  is  a hydro-carbon  and  hence  may  form  fat,  but  we 
have  no  evidence  that  it  does.  The  drinks  that  produce  fat  are  those 
that  contain  sugar  in  addition  to  alcohol,  as  rum,  sweet  wine  and 
beer.  It  is  the  sugar,  and  not  the  alcohol,  that  produces  fat. 

If  we  could  prove  that  alcohol  produces  fat,  it  would  be  no  argu- 
ment in  its  favor,  as  fat  except  in  very  small  quantity  is  a disadvantage  ; 
for  it  is  something  thrown  into  the  loose  tissue,  more  than  the  body 
requires,  and  is  dangerous  if  too  much  in  excess.  It  is  well  known 
that  drinkers  suffer  from  fatty  disease  of  the  heart  and  other  tissues. 
This  being  an  unnatural  condition,  if  alcohol  produces  it,  instead  of 
being  a food,  it  is  a poison  or  destroyer. 

As  alcohol  is  a hydrocarbon  does  it  give  heat  to  the  body?  The 
experiments  of  scientists  and  the  experience  of  voyagers  to  the  Arctic 
regions,  all  combine  to  declare  with  one  accord  that  alcohol  is 
not  a heat  producer  but  a heat  diminisher , and  is  not  a respiratory  food. 
Neither  is  it  a mineral  food,  for  it  contains  none  of  the  basic  elements 
of  saline  or  mineral  food. 

Alcohol  does  not  fulfill  the  requirements  of  the  body  as  a drink,  but 
interferes  with  them.  It  does  not  quench  thirst,  but  encourages  and 
increases  it,  and  as  a substitute  for  water  it  is  worse  than  useless,  for 
it  cannot  in  any  way  supply  the  offices  of  water  in  the  animal  organism. 
Alcohol  is  so  greedy  for  Avater  that  it  will  seize  on  the  watery  tissues 
and  deprive  them  of  a large  portion  of  their  moisture.  Alcoholic 
liquors  do  not  and  cannot  fill  the  office  of  either  food  or  drink , for 
taken  in  moderate  quantity  they  are  useless  if  not  injurious,  while  in 
excess  they  interfere  Avith  the  function  of  natural  food  and  drink,  hence 


DR.  HARGREAVES’  VIEWS  OX  ALCOHOL. 


139 


are  neither  food  nor  drink  ; but  in  every  sense  poisons.  That  they  are 
not  necessary  as  a beverage,  but  an  injury  even  in  moderation,  is  proved 
by  life  insurance  statistics  and  the  mortality  of  persons  in  the  different 
trades  and  professions  in  England  as  follows  : Since  1847  the  Tem- 
perance and  General  Provident  Institution  of  England  (Life  Insurance 
Company)  has  had  two  classes  of  members  : The  Temperance  Section — 
all  total  abstainers  ; and  the  General  Section,  to  which  moderate  drinkers 
are  admitted.  For  the  last  twenty  years,  1866 — 1885,  in  the  General 
Section  the  expected  deaths  were  5431,  the  actual  deaths  that  occurred 
were  5284.  But  in  the  Temperance  Section,  where  the  expected  deaths 
were  3385,  only  2408  died.  This  is  the  difference  between  the  strictly 
moderate  drinkers  and  total  abstainers.  The  working-men  in  England 
between  25  and  65  years  of  age  die  at  the  rate  of  about  15  for 
every  1000  living.  During  the  three  years,  1880,  1881  and  1882, 
where  967  men  of  all  occupations  died,  1521  publicans  died,  and  2205 
publicans’  servants  died  ; and  maltsters,  who  handle  only  the  original 
food  material  and  not  necessarily  the  fermented  alcoholic  liquor,  only 
had  a mortality  of  830.  Then  again  where  these  1521  publicans  died 
only  701  agricultural  laborers,  631  farmers,  599  gardeners  and  556 
clergymen.  In  fact  where  15  working-men  died,  30  publicans  died 
(Dr.  Edmunds).  The  Kegister  General’s  supplement  to  the  45th 
Report,  1885,  page  xxxvi.  says:  “The  mortality  of  men  who  are 
directly  concerned  in  the  liquor  trade  is  appalling  ! ” The  above  figures 
answer  the  question,  nothing  more  need  be  added. 

Is  alcohol  necessary  or  indispensable  as  a medicine  ? 

There  is  greater  diversity  of  opinion  on  this  question  than  on  any 
other  connected  with  the  alcoholic  controversy.  We  find  two  classes 
of  physicians  of  equal  professional  standing  and  ability  : one  entirely 
discarding  the  use  of  alcohol  as  an  agent  in  the  treatment  of  disease  ; 
and  the  other  who  use  it  and  believe  it  useful  and  necessary,  while  the 
former  deem  it  useless  and  injurious. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  advocates  of  the  use  of  alcohol 
as  a medicine  cannot  claim  any  special  advantage  that  cannot  be 
claimed  in  a higher  degree  for  the  non-alcoholic  treatment  by  those  who 
have  stricken  it  from  their  list  of  curative  agents.  From  my  own  ex- 
perience, observation  and  investigations  during  twenty-five  years  of 
medical  practice  and  the  testimony  presented  on  both  sides  of  the 
question,  I am  firmly  of  the  opinion  that  alcoholic  beverages — brandy, 
whisky,  wine,  etc.,  may  be  stricken  from  the  list  of  curative  agents  to 
the  benefit  of  patients  under  all  forms  of  disease.  If  alcohol  is  ever 
used,  it  should  be  administered  in  the  form  of  dilute  alcohol  of  known 
definite  strength  to  suit  the  needs  of  the  case,  and  stopped  as  soon  as 
the  necessity  for  it  ceases.  It  is  the  rankest  empiricism  for  a physi- 
cian to  prescribe  the  common  alcoholic  beverages,  for  he  is  entirely 


140 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


ignorant  of  what  the  mixture  contains,  or  its  alcoholic  per  centage. 
From  my  individual  experience  corroborated  by  so  many  other  physi- 
cians, many  of  great  eminence  in  the  profession,  I am  constrained  to 
believe  what  the  late  Dr.  John  Higginbottom,  F.  R.  S.,  after  more 
than  fifty  years  of  practice  said  : “ Alcohol  is  neither  food  nor  physic,” 
for  alcohol  in  all  its  forms , instead  of  nourishing,  poisons  ; instead  of 
strengthening,  it  weakens  ; instead  of  stimulating,  narcotizes  and  para- 
lyzes; instead  of  ircreasing  the  vital  forces , it  diminishes  force,  pro- 
duces disease  and  is  an  agent  of  degeneration  and  death. 

William  Hargreaves. 

I am  also  indebted  to  the  suggestion  of  Dr.  Hargreaves  for 
the  following  brief  but  explicit  and  comprehensive  letter  from 
Dr.  TV".  Paine  of  Philadelphia.  Dr.  Paine  is  an  independent 
and  original  investigator,  and  his  terse  and  emphatic  testi- 
mony, based  upon  long  experience,  observation,  and  chemical 
as  well  as  strictly  medical  investigation  should  have  great 
weight  with  practical  men  who  desire  to  know  whether  alco- 
hol is  a curse  or  a benefit — a poison,  a medicine  or  a food. 

Philadelphia,  Aug.  1G,  1SS7. 

Dear  Sir  : — Your  letter  of  June  25th  was  received,  soliciting  my 
opinion  as  to  the  effect  of  alcohol  upon  man,  and  whether  it  be  a poi- 
son or  a food,  and  whether  it  is  useful,  necessary  or  indispensable  as 
a beverage  or  medicine.  In  reply  I would  state  that  according  to  my 
experience  it  is  never  useful  as  a medicine,  as  there  are  no  circum- 
stances or  conditions  where  other  stimulants  or  antiseptics  are  not 
more  useful  and  free  from  the  poisonous  influences  of  alcohol ; even 
for  the  preparation  of  tinctures  and  to  prevent  fermentation. 
Glycerine,  salicylic  acid,  bisulphite  of  soda,  lime,  potassium  and 
many  other  antiseptics  and  solvents  are  preferable.  As  to  whether 
it  acts  as  a poison  on  the  system  I think  that  it  does  always  and 
that  as  an  article  of  food  its  poisonous  influence  far  outweighs  any 
beneficial  results  that  might  occur  from  its  use.  Whatever  excuse 
there  might  have  been  for  its  use  as  a medicine,  when  the  knowledge 
of  stimulants  and  antiseptics  were  more  limited  than  now,  there 
certainly  can  be  none  at  the  present  time. 

Yours  truly, 

Hon.  Henry  W.  Blair.  W.  Paine. 

IJ.  S.  Senate,  Washington. 

The  following' letter,  with  pamphlets  accompanying,  was 
received  from  A.  B.  Palmer,  M.  D.,  LL.  B.,  Professor  of 


PR.  PAINE DR.  PALMER. 


141 


Pathology  and  Practice,  etc.,  University  of  Michigan,  a dis- 
tinguished writer  of  medical  treatises  and  President  of  the 
Section  of  Pathology  of  the  International  Medical  Congress 
which  met  in  Washington,  September  5th  inst.,  and  I regret 
that  I have  not  more  space  so  as  to  give  the  contents  of  this 
very  able  paper  in  full. 

I have  done  my  best  to  select  the  most  important  things 
contained  in  it,  except  such  as  have  been  already  considered. 

University  of  Michigan , Department  of  Medicine  and  Surgery , 1 
Ann  Arbor,  Mich.,  June  27,  1SS7.  f 

My  Dear  Sir:- — Your  letter  of  the  25th  inst.  is  just  received.  I 
send  you  a “ Report”  which  I made  to  the  Michigan  State  Medical 
Society  two  years  ago,  which  contains  not  only  my  views,  but  those 
of  various  eminent  gentlemen  in  the  profession,  which  you  can  make 
such  use  of  as  you  may  judge  best  for  your  purpose.  When  the 
report  was  made  no  one  in  the  society  openly  dissented  from  any  of 
the  views  presented.  Had  they  done  so  I should  have  endeavored 
to  sustain  them. 

The  “ food  or  poison”  question  is  there  stated  much  more  fully 
than  could  be  in  a letter.  Whether  a small  quantity  is  capable  of 
being  transformed  into  force  in  the  system  or  not  is  not  a material 
point.  If  it  is  so  changed,  in  the  healthy  condition  when  other  food 
is  taken,  it  interferes  with  appropriation  of  other  food,  so  as  to 
lower  heat  and  other  forms  of  force  more  than  its  own  transforma- 
tion increases  them. 

But  its  characteristic  action  upon  the  body — that  by  which  it  does 
harm  or  good,  if  good  it  ever  does,  especially  in  health — is  as  a 
narcotic — as  a substance  which  directly  impresses  the  nervous  system , 
and  that  impression  when  not  acting  as  a medicine  in  disease  is 
always  poisonous — that  is,  it  does  harm  more  or  less,  and  when  taken 
in  sufficient  quantities,  but  independent  of  great  bulk,  destroys  life. 
It  answers  all  the  conditions  of  a poison.  In  a little  volume,  a 
notice  of  which  I inclose,  you  will  find  in  the  appendix  a reply  to 
Sir  James  Paget,  of  London,  some  matter  that  may  interest  you. 

I would  advise  you  to  write  to  Prof.  N.  S.  Davis,  M.  B.,  LL.  D., 
Chicago,  for  his  opinion,  and  I would  refer  you  to  his  work  on 
Practice  of  Medicine,  and  also  to  a similar  work  of  mine  for  further 
views,  which  you  will  find  in  the  library  where  copyrighted  books 
are  kept. 

Yours,  truly, 

Hon.  Henry  W.  Blair.  A.  B.  Palmer, 

U.  S.  Senate,  Washington. 


142 


TIIE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


Ike  following  are  selections  from  Dr.  Palmer’s  address  : 

The  action  of  alcohol  upon  the  living  system  may  properly  be 
considered  under  two  heads  : 

First , Its  physiological  action,  or  its  effects  on  the  system  other- 
wise in  a healthy  state. 

Second , Its  action  as  a therapeutic  agent,  or  as  a medicine  in  the 
treatment  of  various  diseases  and  injuries,  or  its  effects  in  morbid 
conditions. 

This  distinction  is  important  to  be  made,  but  with  alcohol,  as 
with  every  other  medicine,  its  essential  therapeutical  effects  are 
governed,  and  must  be  judged  of,  largely  by  its  physiological  action. 
This,  after  some  general  observations,  will  first  be  described. 

The  different  substances  taken  into  the  system  and  operating 
upon  it  are  classified  rather  loosely  and  in  a general  way  as  foods, 
poisons  and  medicines. 

A food  is  a substance  which,  when  taken  into  the  alimentary 
canal,  is  capable  of  being  absorbed  from  it,  and  of  serving  either 
to  supply  materials  for  the  growth  of  the  body,  or  for  the  replace- 
ment of  matter  which  has  been  removed  from  it,  and  wdiich  thus 
effects  renewal.  Foods,  to  replace  matters  which  have  been  oxidized, 
must  themselves  be  oxidized.  Foods  by  such  oxidation  must  be  at. 
least  force  generators , and  all  the  higher  forms  are  tissue  formers. 

Some  substances,  such  as  inorganic  salts  and  some  organic 
materials,  serve  to  influence  certain  actions  which  may  result  iu  the 
liberation  of  energy  ; or,  acting  as  inhibitory  or  restraining  agents, 
may  check  the  activity  of  parts,  and  by  these  effects  serve  as  force 
modifiers.  The  internal  organs  of  the  body  are  balanced  and 
governed  in  their  action  by  exeitor  and  inhibitory  nerves,  and  par- 
alyzing the  inhibitory,  as  well  as  stimulating  the  exeitor,  nerves  and 
functions,  will  increase,  though  generally  abnormally,  the  action  of 
the  organs  concerned.  The  removal  of  the  pendulum  of  a clock, 
or  the  balance  wheel  of  a watch,  though  adding  no  force,  will  allow 
the  mechanism  to  run  on  more  rapidly  until  it  runs  down.  The 
paralyzing  of  the  inhibitory  nerves  may  give  an  appearance  of 
stimulation,  but  in  this,  real  and  useful  force  is  uot  augmented. 
These  conditions  may  lead  an  observer  to  false  conclusions,  giving- 
the  impression  that  a real  sedative,  operating  upon  inhibitory  func- 
tions, is  a stimulant. 

But  excitors,  such  as  condiments,  mustard,  pepper,  cinnamon, 
etc.,  increase  certain  actions,  though  they  yield  very  little  or  no 
force  by  their  oxidation.  They  stimulate  the  mouth  and  other  parts 
of  the  alimentary  canal,  increasing  the  flow  of  digestive  secretions, 
and  often  increase  the  appetite  for  food,  and  the  power  of  digesting 


DR.  PALMER'S  CONCLUSIONS. 


143 


it.  Food,  digested  and  appropriated,  is  force,  and  thus  the  con- 
diment may  indirectly  produce  force.  Some  substances  diminish 
action,  general  or  special,  and  that  leads  to  the  diminution  of  all 
force  in  the  system.  Other  substances,  as  the  active  principle  of 
tea  and  coffee,  or  of  the  coca  leaves,  make  impressions  upon  the 
system  which  modify  actions,  resulting  in  changes  of  various  kinds. 
These  cannot  be  regarded  as  foods,  as  they  supply  no  appreciable 
force  by  their  oxidation,  nor  do  they  furnish  any  appreciable  amount 
of  material  for  supplying  the  tissues.  They  have,  however,  an 
apparent  sustaining  effect  greater  than  alcohol. 

According  to  Prof.  H.  N.  Martin,  of  Johns  Hopkins  University, 
one  of  the  latest  and  most  expert  experimenters,  and  one  of  the 
most  authoritative  writers  on  physiology  in  this  country,  and  whose 
work  on  the  “ Human  Body”  has  received  the  rare  distinction  of 
being  approved  by  our  State  Board  of  Health,  a food  must  fulfill 
the  following  conditions  : 

First , It  must  contain  the  elements  which  it  is  to  furnish  and 
replace  in  the  bod}',  and  also  those  elements  leaving  the  body. 
Substances  are  of  no  use  as  foods  which  are  not  capable  of  oxida- 
tion under  the  conditions  prevailing  in  the  system,  and  which  are 
not  capable  of  construction  into  its  tissues. 

Second , Foods  must  be  capable  of  being  absorbed  from  the  ali- 
mentary canal,  aud  either  by  themselves,  or  the  changes  they 
undergo,  must  be  capable  of  furnishing  force,  or  the  elements  of 
tissues. 

Third , (And  this  is  his  precise  language),  “Neither  the  sub- 
stance itself,  nor  any  of  the  products  of  its  transformation  in  the 
body,  must  be  injurious  to  the  structure  or  activity  of  any  organ. 
If  so  it  is  a poison,  not  a food.” 

A poison  is  briefly  defined  by  the  quotation  from  Prof.  Martin  in 
this  last  sentence.  It  is  a substance  which,  when  applied  to  or 
taken  into  the  body,  by  its  peculiar  qualities  independent  of  mere 
mechanical  properties  or  of  large  bulk,  is  capable  of  inflicting  injury 
upon  the  organism,  either  in  its  functions  or  structure,  and  which 
when  used  in  certain  quantities,  but  still  independent  of  great  bulk, 
may  produce  death. 

Medicines  are  substances  given  for  the  purpose  of  modifying  fav- 
orably morbid  actions  and  conditions,  and  are  capable  of  producing 
such  effects.  They  are  generally  injurious  to  persons  in  health,  and 
are  beneficial  only  when  they  produce  favorable  changes  in  diseased 
states.  The  same  article  may  be  a medicine  or  a poison  according 
to  the  purpose  and  the  conditions  of  its  use.  Thus,  opium,  prussic 
acid,  arsenic,  and  corrosive  sublimate  are  deadly  poisons,  but  used 
in  proper  quantities,  and  in  relation  to  certain  morbid  conditions, 
they  are  useful  medicines. 


144 


TIIE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


Again,  some  articles  are  both  medicines  and  foods.  Of  this  class 
■cod  liver  oil  and  malt  are  examples.  Neither  of  these,  however, 
has  poisonous  properties,  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  these  terms. 

These  facts  and  principles  seem  necessary  to  be  borne  in  mind 
for  the  purpose  of  placing  alcohol  where  it  belongs,  and  for  under- 
' standing  its  proper  actions. 

After  a careful  description  of  the  physiological  effect  of 
alcohol  upon  the  system  similar  to  what  has  been  already  given 
in  this  work,  Dr.  Palmer  proceeds  : 

I have  thus  minutely,  and  I fear  tediously,  traced  the  general 
acute  or  immediate  physiological  effects  of  alcohol,  and  have  showed 
its  analogy — its  substantial  identity — with  that  of  chloroform  and 
ether,  in  order  to  enable  us  to  see  more  clearly  to  what  class  of 
agents  it  belongs. 

If  chloroform  is  a poison,  alcohol  is  essentially  a poison.  We 
waive,  for  the  present,  the  question  of  its  food  properties.  If  such 
properties  exist,  they  are  so  slight  and  trival,  compared  with  its 
other  actions,  as  not  to  be  worthy,  in  this  connection,  of  being 
brought  into  the  account.  If  chloroform  is  a narcotic,  alcohol  is  a 
narcotic.  If  chloroform  is  an  anaesthetic,  alcohol  is  an  anaesthetic. 
If  one  is  essentially  a depressing  agent,  so  is  the  other.  Then 
strong  resemblance  no  one  can  question.  The  chief  difference  is 
that  the  alcoholic  narcosis  is  longer  continued,  and  its  secondary 
effects  are  more  severe. 

It  is  this  narcotic  or  anaesthetic  action  of  alcohol,  its  power  to 
diminish  sensibility  or  modify  the  feelings,  rendering  the  indi- 
vidual less  conscious  of  outward  disagreeable  impressions,  reliev- 
ing a sense  of  fatigue,  of  pain,  of  dragging  weight,  of  mental 
depression  and  distress,  which  has  led  to  the  popular  error  re- 
specting it,  and  the  contradictory  uses  made  of  it.  It  is  in  con- 
sequence of  its  diminishing  outward  impressions  and  inward 
monitions  that  it  is  taken  to  warm  in  winter,  and  cool  in  summer, 
to  soothe  in  affliction,  and  render  insensible  to  reproach  or  the 
upbraidings  of  conscience. 

He  then  cites  recent  experiments  which  prove  the  former 
opinion,  that  alcohol  stimulated  the  heart  by  an  increase  of 
real  force,  to  be  a mistake.  It  creates  a flutter,  but  decreases 
power.  There  is  no  increased  arterial  pressure,  which  pressure 
is  known  to  be  the  evidence  of  heart  force.  Increased  fre- 
quency of  pulsation  is  often  the  strongest  evidence  of  dimin- 
ished power — witness  the  fluttering  pulse  of  extreme  weakness. 
“ The  report  of  Drs.  Ringer  and  Sainsbury  closes  with  the 


Rev.  Joseph  Cook. 


HEREDITARY  CONSEQUENCES  OF  ALCOHOLISM. 


145 


following  remark,  announcing  the  most  important  fact  which 
these  experiments  confirm,  viz.  : ‘ That  by  their  action  on  the 
cardiac  tissue  these  drugs  (the  alcohols)  are  clearly  paralyzant, 
and  this  appears  to  be  the  case  from  the  outset,  no  stage  of 
increased  force  of  construction  precedin';.’ — (Practitioners 
[London],  May,  1883,  p.  350.)” 

He  states  the  following  very  important  fact  not  sufficiently 
emphasized  hitherto  : “ There  is  a connection,  often  marked, 
in  the  use  of  the  different  narcotics.  The  alcohol  habit  tends 
to  produce  the  opium  habit,  and  the  reverse ; one  may  be 
substituted  for  the  other,  and  the  two  are  often  indulged 
together.  The  same  principle,  to  a greater  or  less  extent, 
applies  to  the  wide-spread  tobacco  habit,  and  to  the  less  pre- 
valent chloroform,  chloral  and  hasheesh  habits.  The  indul- 
gence in  any  one  begets  a tendency  to  indulge  in  others.  The 
habitual  use  of  any  of  them  produces  a constitutional  narcotic 
state,  different  from  the  normal.” 

Dr.  Palmer  confirms  all  that  is  elsewhere  said  of  the  heredi- 
tary consequences  of  the  use  of  alcohol,  and  in  regard  to  the 
■effect  of  moderate  use  he  says  that:  “Morbid  qualities  of  a 
milder  character  in  the  parents  may  be  exaggerated  and  other- 
wise modified  in  the  offspring.  Thus,  inebriety  with  its 
ordinary  perversions  in  the  parent  may  become  idiocy  or 
insanity  in  the  child;  and  moderate  drinking  in  the  father, 
creating  an  appetite  which  in  him  is  controlled,  may  produce 
drunkenness  in  the  son,  or  even  dipsomania  in  the  son  or  the 
grandson,  which  may  be  beyond  all  control.  Our  personal 
observations  have  afforded  sufficient  instances  of  this  kind, 

r 

and  the  general  testimony  of  those  who  have  given  attention 
to  this  subject  abundantly  confirms  the  statement.”  And 
closes  the  topic  thus : " The  occasion  will  not  admit  of  a 
further  discussion  of  the  subject  of  heredity  in  its  relations  to 
alcoholism  and  the  other  narcotic  habits.  These  habits  are 
the  present  bane — a crying  evil  of  nearly  the  entire  world, 
and  we  may  well  consider  and  teach  others  to  consider  the 
influence  of  our  personal  indulgence  upon  those  that  are  to 
come  after  us — the  habits  of  this  generation  upon  those  that 
are  to  come.” 

I have  space  but  for  so  much  of  his  able  discussion  of  the 
action  of  alcohol  as  a medicine  : 

10 


146 


THE  TEMrEKAXCE  MOVEMENT. 


The  discussion  of  the  therapeutic  properties  of  alcohol  takes  us 
into  another  department  of  scientific  principles  and  practical  consid- 
erations. While  the  remedial  effects  of  medicines  in  disease  are 
largely  determined  by  their  essential  action  in  health,  yet  the  differ- 
ence of  condition  in  these  respective  states  is  such  that  an  agent, 
which  may  affect  injuriously  the  one  may  act  beneficially  upon  the 
other.  No  one  can  suppose  that  opium,  mercury  or  strychnine  can 
do  other  than  injury  to  a person  in  health,  yet  their  temporary 
actions  in  certain  diseases  are  beneficial. 

Alcohol,  though  not  a stimulant  in  its  essential  action,  nor  an  in- 
creaser  of  power  in  a healthy  person,  may  possible  indirectly  act  as 
an  increaser  of  force  in  a sick  or  injured  one.  By  soothing  a 
depressing  irritation,  or  by  relieving  a severe  shock,  or  by  modify- 
ing favorably  some  pathological  condition,  thus  removing  or  abating 
an  injurious  cause,  a beneficial  effect  maj’  follow. 

lie  gives  us  the  following  as  the  latest  teaching  of  science 
as  to  the  development  of  force  by  the  oxidation  or  burning 
of  alcohol  in  the  body  : 

The  question  as  to  the  oxidation  of  any  portion  of  the  alcohol 
taken  into  the  system,  and  the  consequent  development  of  force  bv 
it,  is  not  absolutely  settled.  Baron  Liebig,  who  for  a time  held 
great  sway  in  the  scientific,  especially  the  chemical,  world,  taught 
that  alcohol,  a hydro-carbon,  united  with  oxygen  in  the  lungs,  pro- 
ducing carbonic  acid  and  water,  thus  becoming  '■  respiratory  food,” 
and  in  so  doing  producing  heat  and  perhaps  other  forms  of  force. 
The  simplicity  of  this  theory  (for  it  was  only  theory),  and  the  high 
authority  of  its  author,  caused  it  to  be  quite  generall}7  accepted, 
though  resting  upon  a basis  so  purely  speculative,  and,  as  declared 
by  high  modern  authority,  “ without  a single  experimental  fact  for 
its  support.”  But  Drs.  Prout  and  Percy,  of  England,  Booker,  of  Ger 
many,  Davis,  of  this  country,  and  others,  ascertained  by  the  most 
direct  and  conclusive  experiments,  that  less  carbonic  acid  was  given 
off  from  the  lungs,  and  therefore  less  combustion  of  carbonaceous 
matter  occurred  in  them,  when  alcohol  was  taken,  than  without  it; 
and  that  the  sum  total  of  elimination  of  effete  matters  was  dimin- 
ished by  the  presence  of  this  article  in  the  system.  This  proved 
that  alcohol  retarded  those  chemical  and  vital  changes  by  which 
nutrition,  secretion  and  elimination  are  effected.  The  inference 
from  this  was  that,  by  this  article,  under  the  circumstances  in  which 
these  experiments  were  tried — in  comparative  health  and  with  an 
ordinary  diet — the  production  of  force  was  diminished  and  not  in- 
creased. This  inference  was  corroborated  by  the  fact  that  the  ther- 
mometers showed  that  the  production  of  heat  was  diminished,  and 


CHANGES  OF  SCIENTIFIC  OPINION. 


147 


presumably  other  forms  of  force  also,  and  that  Liebig's  theory  was 
untrue.  Numerous  experiments  have  since  proved  the  absorption 
of  the  alcohol  from  the  stomach  unchanged,  its  diffusion  throughout 
the  body  in  the  blood,  and  its  passage  out  of  the  body  by  the  lungs, 
by  the  skin,  by  the  kidneys,  and  other  excretions,  still  unchanged. 

The  following  summary  of  the  changes  of  scientific  knowl- 
edge and  opinion  in  the  recent  past  and  of  the  rapidly  increas- 
ing evidence  going  to  establish  the  worst  that  has  ever  been 
alleged  against  the  terrible  scourge  of  alcohol  closes  Dr.. 
Palmer's  pamphlet  and  is  especially  timely  and  valuable  ; 

We  thought,  and  we  may  sometimes  still  think,  it  makes  us  witty. 
We  1 mow  from  observation  it  makes  men  silly. 

We  thought  it  brightened  the  intellect  and  might  make  men  wiser. 
We  find  that  in  the  long  run,  at  least,  it  dulls  the  intellect  and 
makes  men  foolish. 

Wine  has  been  called  the  “ milk  of  age,”  and  we  thought  it  sup- 
ported advanced  life.  We  know  that  the  aged  live  longer  and 
retain  their  powers  better  without  its  use. 

As  a medicine,  or  prophylactic  measure,  we  thought  it  protected 
agaiust  epidemic  diseases.  We  now  know  it  invites  attacks. 

We  thought  it  prevented  and  even  cured  consumption.  We  know 
it  is  the  most  frequent  cause  of  at  least  one  form  of  that  disease — 
fibroid  phthisis. 

We  thought,  moderately  used,  it  was  good  for  many  things. 
Those  who  have  given  most  careful  attention  to  the  subject  believe 
it  is  good  for  very  few  things. 

The  demonstrations  of  modern  science  have  shown  the  truth  of 
the  ancient  saying  of  the  Wise  Man  : “ Wine  is  a mocker,  strong 
drink  is  raging,  and  whosoever  is  deceived  thereby  is  not  wise.” 

The  preceding  view  of  this  subject  prompts  us  in  conclusion  to 
say  that,  as  our  scientific  knowledge  of  alcohol  advances,  our  prac- 
tice with  it  and  our  language  respecting  it  should  change. 

As  to  its  physiological  effects,  we  have  certainly  in  many  respects 
been  mistaken  in  the  past.  We  have  said  it  excited  the  vaso-motor 
nerves  of  the  surface,  and  thus  caused  increased  vascular  action  in 
the  cutaneous  circulation.  We  know  now  it  depresses  those  nerves 
and  causes  passive  dilatation  of  the  surface  vessels.  We  thought 
it  increased  animal  heat.  The  thermometer  shows  it  diminishes  it. 
We  thought  that  from  more  blood  coming  to  the  surface,  and  some- 
times causing  a feeling  of  warmth,  it  would  diminish  the  danger 
from  exposure  to  cold.  We  find  that  from  less  heat  being  produced 
in  the  centers,  and  more  being  lost  from  the  surface  by  the  increased 


148 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


blood  in  the  superficial  vessels,  the  danger  of  exposure  to  cold 
under  its  influence  is  greatly  increased. 

We  said  the  alcohol  taken  was  oxidized  in  the  lungs,  and  that 
increased  heat  and  other  forms  of  force  were  thus  produced.  We 
find  it  is  not  thus  oxidized,  or,  if  at  all,  in  so  small  a quantity  that 
its  effect  is  ordinarily  much  more  than  counterbalanced  by  the 
diminution  of  the  oxidation  of  other  hydro-carbons  which  it  pro- 
duces ; so  that  under  its  influence  heat  and  the  other  forms  of  force 
are  lessened. 

We  thought  it  increased  muscular  strength,  and  it  was  taken  to 
aid  men  in  their  work.  We  find  that  it  diminishes  muscular  power, 
both  for  immediate  action  and  with  reference  to  endurance. 

We  thought,  as  it  often  makes  one  feel  stronger,  that  this  was 
evidence  that  one  is  stronger.  We  now  know  that  this  feeling  is 
deceptive,  and  is  not  even  presumptive  evidence  of  increased 
strength.  We  see  that  the  drunken  man  while  boasting  of  his 
strength  falls  to  the  ground. 

We  said  it  was  a direct  heart  excitor.  We  now  know  it  is  a 
direct  heart  depressor. 

We  said,  and  nearly  all  the  text-books  still  say,  it  is  a direct 
cardiac  stimulant.  We  know  from  most  conclusive  experiments  it 
is  a direct  cardiac  paralyzant. 

The  following  letter  from  Dr.  Alexander  Wilder  a widely 
known  and  eminent  practitioner,  of  Newark,  New  Jersey, 
show's  how  alcohol  may  be  used  in  some  cases  with  curative 
effect,  but  the  necessity  of  the  creation  of  a sense  of  re- 
sponsibility which  is  not  felt,  and  the  exercise  of  a rigid  cau- 
tion which  is  not  nowr  generally  exercised  b\T  the  profession 
in  prescribing  this  dangerous  agency  is  particularly  empha- 
sized in  his  closing  words.  Deferring  to  the  heedlessness 
which  now  prevails,  he  says : "I  regard  such  prescribing 
as  unquestionably  a stigma  upon  the  medical  profession. 

Till  that  time  ” (when  there  shall  be  more  care  by 

the  profession  in  this  regard)  "we  must  expect  men,  aye,  and 
women,  too,  to  become  and  continue  drunkards,  having  been 
seduced  into  this  degradation  by  their  medical  advisers.”  If 
the  profession  continues  to  be  wrong — guilty — as  thus  charged, 
how  can  vre  have  hope  for  the  country  or  the  world?  Doctors 
discovered  distillation;  doctors  can  destroy  the  destroyer 
vdiich  they  have  let  loose  upon  mankind.  Will  you  do  it9. 
Is  there  any  other  so  great  question  upon  the  profession  ? 


DR.  WILDER  ON  ALCOHOL  AS  A MEDICINE. 


149 


Could  not  the  International  Congress  make  professional 
laws  which  shall  forbid  the  criminal  liberality  and  indiffer- 
ence with  which  members  of  the  profession  who  are  subject 
to  its  censure,  administer  this  fatal  drug?  Cannot  this  form 
of  murder,  or  worse  than  murder,  be  turned  over  to  the 
quacks?  We  arc  on  our  guard  against  them,  or  if  not,  must 
blame  our  own  folly.  But  we  are  betrayed  by  our  " old 
family  physician  ; ” we  become  drunkards  by  the  advice  and 
order  of  the  friend  in  whom  we  most  trusted,  and  to  whose 
hands  we  have  confided  the  issues  of  life. 

It  is  a breach  of  trust,  and  unless  the  great  organizations 
and  the  individual  members  subject  to  their  discipline  attend 
to  this  thing,  the  growing  intelligence  of  the  common  people 
will  curse  their  worse  than  quackery,  and  more  and  more 
will  resort  to  humbug  and  imposition  as  the  lesser  evil. 

Newark,  N.  J.,  July  14,  1SS7. 

Dear  Sir: — I grew  up  in  Oneida  county,  N.  Y.,  when  temper- 
ance and  teetotalism,  etc.,  swept  over  the  region  like  a prairie  fire, 
and  I was  deeply  affected  by  the  general  sentiment.  It  may  be 
that  my  reply  to  your  questions  will  be  colored  by  that  early  influ- 
ence. Nevertheless,  I think  I have  it  in  mv  power  to  be  candid. 

I read  with  much  care  the  argument  of  Anstie  and  others  designed 
to  prove  that  alcohol  is  a food.  But  conviction  failed  me  ; I do  not 
believe  it.  There  is  good  in  everything  if  we  did  but  know.  The 
good  of  alcohol,  however,  does  not  consist  in  its  quality  as  a food. 
If  I should  modify  this  statement,  it  would  be  to  admit  the  article 
into  the  catalogue  of  degraded  substances  along  with  tainted  meats, 
crude  or  fermenting  vegetables,  etc.  I would  not  expect  much 
stamina  from  alcohol-nourished  men. 

Your  other  inquiry  in  regard  to  the  merits  of  alcohol  as  a drink 
or  medicine  is  somewhat  more  difficult  to  answer  critically.  I have 
made  several  personal  experiments  with  results  more  or  less  satis- 
factory. From  infancy  I abhorred  whisky,  rum  and  brandy,  and 
even  now  can  swallow  either  only  by  a forced  effort. 

The  fermented  beverages  appear  to  have  afforded  a varied  result. 
From  my  twentieth  year  I had  been  a sufferer  from  indigestion 
which  had  refused  the  aid  of  medicine  or  regimen.  But  in  1852, 
almost  from  desperation,  I resorted  to  ale,  “Greenways,”  I think, 
using  it  at  intervals  of  twice  a week  with  most  gratifying  results. 
After  some  months,  however,  I fell  off  from  it  again.  Again,  when 
attacked  by  pneumonia  in  May,  1871,  I found  it  almost  impossible 
to  swallow  Croton  water,  but  could  drink  Albany  ales  with  ease  and 


150 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


benefit.  The  beverage  manufactured  at  Poughkeepsie  was  too 
strong  for  me.  At  a later  attack  in  January.  1885,  to  which  I 
almost  succumbed,  I had  utter  intolerance  of  brandy,  rum  and 
whisky,  which  my  medical  advisers  earnestly  pressed  upon  me  ; 
but  “ Jersey  cider  ” was  used  with  much  comfort  and  benefit.  I 
am  disposed,  however,  to  divide  the  praise  with  the  acid,  as  coun- 
teracting the  wasted  condition  of  the  body.  I believe  that  no  ale 
would  have  met  the  case,  and  that  I would  not  have  survived  the 
stronger  liquors.  I say  this  in  all  candor  and  impartially.  I 
have  also  made  observations  in  other  cases.  Once,  when  a patient 
was  afflicted  with  “hay-fever”  and  the  case  appeared  intractble,  I 
employed  whisky  with  gratifying  results.  The  peculiar  exaltation 
of  vital  force  appeared  to  be  the  thing  required.  I presume,  how- 
ever, that  this  was  but  an  idiosyncrasy.  As  a general  conclusion 
I am  satisfied  that  the  utility  of  alcohol  as  a medicine  is  but  pre- 
carious. When  it  is  but  occasionally  employed  there  may  be  some- 
times an  incidental  advantage  ; but  if  the  use  should  be  persisted 
in  this  advantage  would  be  very  certain  to  disappear.  I have  little 
more  to  say  in  its  favor,  while  as  a drink  I have  very  generally 
witnessed  its  use  to  be  hurtful. 

Physicians  who  have  confidence  in  their  art  seldom  prescribe 
■ alcohol.  It  is  chiefly  done  by  those  who  believe  little  in  the  utility 
of  drugs,  or  who  indulge  in  alcoholic  stimulants  themselves.  I 
regard  such  prescribing  as  unquestionably  a stigma  upon  the  med- 
ical profession.  To  this  complexion  I am  convinced  we  all  must 
come  at  last.  Till  that  time,  however,  we  must  expect  men — aye. 
and  women,  too — to  become  and  continue  drunkards,  having  been 
seduced  into  this  degradation  by  their  medical  advisers. 

Quis  custodes  custodiet?  I remain  with  sincere  esteem, 

Yours  truly, 

Hox.  Henry  W.  Blair.  Alexander  Wilder. 

U.  S.  Senate,  Washington. 

Dr.  A.  C.  Rembaugh,  of  Philadelphia,  who  ranks  among 
the  ablest  and  most  successful  members  of  the  profession, 
sends  me  the  following  letter  : 

Philadelphia,  7-11-1887. 

Dear  Sir  : — Please  excuse  my  tardy  reply  to  your  communication 
of  June  25th,  as  I was  absent  at  Gettysburg  at  the  reunion  of  the 

Blues  and  the  Grays  ; have  had  a good  time Doctors  as 

a class  are  on  the  wrong  side  of  the  alcohol  question  in  my  estima- 
tion. I stand  with  the  Carpenters,  B.  W.  Richardson,  of  England, 
also  James  Edmunds,  M.  D.,  M.  R.  C.  P.,  etc.,  and  with  Dr.  W. 
Hargreaves,  author  of  “Worse  than  Wasted.”  You  should  read 


DIv.  REMBAUGII  : ALCOHOL  A POISON.” 


151 


that  if  you  have  not  already  done  so.  I believe  that  alcohol  is  a 
poison  and  in  no  sense  a food.  I have  no  use  for  it  as  a food,  drink 
or  medicine,  and  I believe  it  is  never  used  in  either  large  or  small 
quantities  without  absolute  harm  to  the  one  partaking  of  it,  and  the 
sooner  it  is  banished  from  the  land  the  better  it  will  be  for  all  the 
people.  Yours  for  the  war  against  alcohol, 

A.  C.  Eejibaugh. 

Hon.  H.  W.  Blair. 

U.  S.  Senate,  Washington. 

Dr.  Rembaugh,  in  an  address  delivered  before  the  Social 
Science  Association  of  Philadelphia,  May  28,  1885,  published 
by  the  Association  has  collected  many  striking  facts,  opinions 
of  distinguished  physicians,  etc.,  and  the  latest  scientific 
deductions,  which  are  set  forth  very  impressively  in  a printed 
paper  inclosed  with  his  letter.  Considerable  of  the  matter  is 
taken  from  "The  Foundation  of  Death,”  by  Alexander  Gus- 
tafson, one  of  the  best  and  most  philosophical  books  on  this 
problem,  and  is  so  credited  by  Dr.  Rembaugh.*  I collate 
some  of  the  more  important,  regretting  that  I cannot  give 
more,  and  hoping  that  the  pamphlet  may  have  general  circula- 
tion among  the  profession  as  well  as  the  people. 

Dr.  W.  B.  Carpenter,  the  most  renowned  of  living  physio- 
logists, says:  "The  introduction  of  alcohol  into  healthy  blood 
can  do  nothing  but  mischief ; that  no  one  who  is  familiar  with 
the  action  of  poisons  upon  the  living  animal  body,  and  has 
made  the  nature  of  that  action  a special  study,  has  the 
smallest  hesitation  in  saying  that  alcohol  is  a poison.”  "Every 
legitimate  food  satisfies  in  given  quantities.  Alcohol  is  not  a 
food  and  supplies  no  natural  craving — from  its  very  nature 
it  demands  more  and  more,”  says  Rev.  Dr.  Cuyler.  The 
bakers  of  New  York  were  at  one  time  very  much  exercised 
over  the  waste  of  alcohol  that  was  not  saved  from  their  bak- 
ing bread.  Two  hundred  gallons  of  alcohol  can  be  secured 
from  the  smoke  produced  by  burning  29,000  cords  of  wood. 

The  nutritive  power  of  foods  depend  on  the  proportion 
which  can  be  made  available  for  the  renovation  of  the  body. 
Alcohol  has  not  been  found  in  the  living  organism  except  in 
the  waste  and  refuse,  and  only  in  infinitesimal  traces. 

*“  The  Foundation  of  Death”  is  one  of  the  great  works  in  the  literature 
of  Temperance  and  should  be  widely  read. 


152 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


Dr.  L.  A.  Ivlien,  speaking  of  the  effects  of  the  use  of  alcohol 
during  the  siege  of  Paris,  says  : " We  had  plenty  of  alcohol, 
but  it  did  not  make  us  warm,  it  did  not  replace  food  of  any 

kind.  Let  me  tell  you  that nothing  will  make  you 

feel  the  cold  more,  that  nothing  will  make  you  feel  the  dread- 
ful sense  of  hunger  more  than  alcohol.”  Linnaeus  said : 
"Man  sinks  gradually  by  this  fell  poison;  first  he  favors  it, 
then  Avarms  to  it,  then  burns  for  it,  then  is  consumed  by  it.” 

"It  has  been  instanced  by  the  deaths  of  Pitt  and  Fox  and  an 
army  of  others  as  due  to  the  use  of  alcohol,  by  which  they 
sought  to  supplement  energies  already  too  exhaustingly  taxed. 
With  our  way  of  living,  our  passions  and  worries,  man  no 
longer  dies,  but  kills  himself.  To  prolong  life  it  is  necessary 
to  live  soberly.  The  chief  enemy  of  the  longevity  and  health 
of  the  race  is  alcohol.  Sufficient  and  agreeable  rest,  enough 
undisturbed  sleep ; but  to  how  many  of  the  toiling  millions 
who  labor  for  bread  by  muscles  or  brain,  are  these  essentials 
vouchsafed  ? All  temperance  people  should  look  forward  with 
no  little  hopefulness  to  the  time  when  eight  hours  shall  be 
recognized  as  the  maximum  of  working  hours,  when  the 
weary  brains  and  muscles  will  not  seek  stimulation,  but  rest.” 

Dr.  Iiembaugh  is  right.  Eight  hours  is  enough.  Qualify 
everybody  to  perform  labor  and  then  ensure  to  all  the 
opportunity.  The  great  problem  is  to  distribute  labor, 
then  the  distribution  of  production  will  take  care  of  itself. 
Mo  man  has  the  right  to  more  than  his  share  of  the  work 
of  the  world  unless  he  is  ready  to  give  to  those  who  have 
not  the  opportunity  or  the  ability  to  work,  without  fault  on 
their  part,  the  production  of  that  labor  which  he  had  no 
right  to  perform.  But  if  there  were  wisdom,  as  there  some- 
time will  be  in  our  industrial  system — brought  about  by 
peaceful  evolution — there  would  be  intelligence  in  all,  work 
lay  all,  and  production  for  all.  That  is  the  millennium  and 
it  is  coming. 

" Alcoholic  fermentation  results  in  two  poisonous  com- 
pounds, alcohol  and  carbonic  acid.”  Dr.  A.  Carlysle  says 
that  no  living  animal  or  plant  can  be  supported  by  such 
poisonous  fluids, — on  the  contrary  they  soon  become  sickly 
and  perish  under  their  influence.  "A  profuse  amount  of 
gastric  juice  will  no  doubt  digest  food  more  rapidly  than  a 


STIMULATED  ACTION  NOT  STRENGTH. 


155 


small  amount,  and  therefore  the  abundant  secretion  of  mis- 

O 

trie  juice  provoked  by  the  daily  taking  of  a small  amount 
of  alcohol  may  for  a time  promote  digestion.  But  to  urge 
digestion  is  no  more  desirable  than  to  urge  youth.”  " Beef- 
steak is  15G  times  more  nutritious  than  wine  ” — if  wine  is 
nutritious  at  all.  "In  fact  there  is  no  food  in  alcoholic  drinks, 
whether  malted  or  spirituous.  The  fat  of  the  beer  drinker  is 
composed  of  those  albuminous  residues  that  remain  undecom- 
posed, not  reducible  to  a form  in  which  the}^  can  be  excreted  ; 
they  have  to  be  stored  away  so  as  to  prevent  obstruction  to 
the  circulation,  and  are  therefore  packed  away  under  the  skin.” 

Dr.  Archibald  Billing  says  : "Stimulants  excite  action,  but 
action  is  not  strength.”  " The  stimulating  effects  of  alcohol 
are  really  only  finer  shades  of  that  same  narcotic  influence  or, 
in  other  words,  paralysis.  Prof.  John  Fiske  says  : " The  per- 
petual craving  of  the  drinker  in  all  probability  is  due  to  the 
gradual  alteration  in  the  molecular  structure  of  the  nervous- 
system  caused  by  frequently-repeated  narcosis.”  Decent 
years  prove  that  the  notion  that  alcohol  is  an  auxiliary  of 
brain  work  is  fallacious.  It  is  no  savings  bank  of  muscular 
strength,  as  in  time  it  utterly  destroys  it.  "Eight  ounces  of 
alcohol  will  make  the  heart  lift  24  tons  more,  daily.” 

Now  this  is  done  without  giving  any  strength — merely  mak- 
ing the  same  horse  go  faster  with  the  whip,  on  the  same  feed 
as  when  doing  a full  day's  work  without  castigation.  Dr. 
Rembaugh  is  not  responsible  for  the  last  remark,  but  it  is 
true  as  all  the  evidence  proves.  "Dealers  in  ardent  spirits 
may  be  compared  to  men  who  should  advertise  for  sale  con- 
sumption, fevers,  rheumatism,  palsies  and  apoplexies.”  "Let 
a druggist  be  so  unfortunate  as  to  cause  by  a mistake  a single 
death  and  the  whole  community  is  aroused,  and  the  most 
severe  penalties  of  the  law  are  inflicted  upon  him.”  " Hang- 
ing is  the  death  penalty  for  a single  murder.  License  is  the 
reward  for  wholesale  murder.” 

Ah  ! Dr.  Rembaugh,  is  a crank  ! Any  liquor  seller  will  say 
so.  And  Dr.  Rembaugh  keeps  right  on  declaring  that  we 
must  have  National  Prohibition!  Poor  fanatic!  "Three 
times  as  much  liquor  consumed  per  capita  to-day  as  in  1840.” 
" This  question  has  clearly  become  a national  instead  of  a 
state  issue.”  "Total  prohibition  is  now  our  only  salvation.” 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


If)  4 

" We  must  not  legalize  the  liquor  traffic  with  either  high  or 
low  license,  or  an}'  kind  of  tax  or  stamp  act,  but  we  must  set 
our  heads  and  hearts  to  annihilate  the  whole  business.” 

He  says  high  license  has  been  proven  an  utter  failure 
wherever  tried — he  is  against  " blood  money  ” and  says 
away  with  such  a revenue  ” — " the  curse  of  God  is  on 

revenue  derived  from  the  wrongs,  the  miseries, 

the  poverty  and  suffering,  the  wretchedness,  vice,  crime, 
insanity,  idiocy  of  the  people.”  Then  he  cites  the  experi- 
ences of  the  city  of  Des  Moines — facts  taken  from  the 
records  of  the  city  clerk.  "In  1871,  license  fee  $150,  there 
were  12  saloons;  in  1872,  license  fee  $200,  there  were  25 
saloons.”  Probably  the  population  did  not  more  than  double 
in  one  year,  but  the  saloons  did,  although  the  license  fee 
was  increased  331  per  cent. 

Again  the  Doctor  gives  us  the  fact — same  city:  “ 1880, 
license  fee  $250,  there  were  49  saloons;  1882,  license  fee 
$1,000,  there  were  60  saloons.” 

How  do  you  account  for  that,  my  high  license  friend  ? Dr. 
Rembaugh  says  he  got  this  from  the  city  clerk — perhaps  you 
better  write  to  the  clerk  yourself.  Then  Dr.  Eembaugh 
makes  this  brutal  remark  : “ The  low  groggery  is  far  less 
harmful  and  dangerous  to  the  community  than  the  gilded  and 
glittering  saloon  ; for  here  is  where  the  temptation  begins. 
It  ends  in  the  low  groggery  where  the  helpless  and  hopeless 
congregate.” 

Reading  after  the  doctor  one  would  contract  a prejudice 
-against  these  beautiful  slaughter  houses,  if  he  should  give 
way  to  his  feelings.  Philadelphia  has  “ one  drinking  saloon 
for  every  29  voters  ; one  bakery  for  1641-  voters ; and  one 
grocery  for  every  54-j-  voters.”  He  cites  many  authors  to 
prove  that  alcoholism  is  hereditary,  reproduces  itself  and 
develops  in  disease,  insanity,  idiocy,  and  things  of  that 
sort.  He  quotes  Dr.  Kroft  Ebing,who  thus  disposes  of  the 
“ visiting-the-sins-of-the-father-upon-the-children  ” doctrine  : 

Pirst  generation  : moral  depravity,  alcoholic  excess. 

Second  generation  : drink  mania,  attacks  of  insanity,  general 
paralysis. 

Third  generation  : hypochondria,  melancholia,  apathy  and 
tendencies  to  murder. 


Ta  Image. 


R 


r v 


Dr. 


THE  LAW  OF  HEREDITY. 


155 


Fourth  generation : imbecility,  idiocy  and  extinction  of 
family — this  last  a most  desirable  result  if  thing's  are  to  £io 
on  in  this  way. 

Dr.  Kembaugli  says  that  the  children  of  drunken  parents 
who  escape  the  curse,  are  the  exceptions  and  the  escape  is 
seldom  if  ever  a complete  one.  Gellius  said  that  “the 
children  of  drunkards  are  not  likely  to  have  sound  brains,” 
etc.,  etc.,  etc.  It  is  hideous  reading — one  could  endure  it 
if  it  were  not  true — but  only  on  that  consideration. 

“Drink  alone  destroys  more  people  than  all  the  other 
plagues  together  which  afflict  humanity.”  Buffon’s  Discourse 
on  Nature.  Another  crank  ! 

“A  statement  just  issued  by  the  Belgian  Patriotic  League 
against  drunkenness,  thus  sums  up  the  present  aspect  of  the 
great  drink  question  iu  Belgium.  The  number  of  public 
houses  in  that  country,  which  was  53,000  in  1850,  had 
increased  to  125,000  in  1880,  and  is  now  130,000.  Suicides 
in  last  40  years  increased  80  per  cent.,  of  insane  104  per 
cent.,  of  convicts  135  per  cent.  ; of  workmen  who  die  in 
hospitals  80  per  cent,  are  habitual  drunkards.” 

SALOONS  TO  POPULATION  IN  TIIE  UNITED  STATES. 

”In  Nevada  there  is  1 drinking  saloon  to  every  65  ; Colo- 
rado, 1 to  65  ; California,  1 to  99;  Oregon,  1 to  176;  New 
Jersey,  1 to  179  ; New  York,  1 to  192  ; Louisiana,  1 to 
200;  Ohio,  1 to  225;  Connecticut,  1 to  266;  Massachusetts 
1 to  256 ; Delaware,  1 to  258 ; Pennsylvania,  1 to  263 ; 
Rhode  Island,  1 to  266  ; Illinois  1 to  267  ; Maryland,  1 to  293  ; 
Wisconsin,  1 to  304;  Minnesota,  1 to  311;  Missouri,  1 to 
337  ; Michigan,  1 to  350  ; New  Hampshire,  1 to  376  ; Iowa,  1 
to  377  ; Indiana,  1 to  380  ; Kentucky,  1 to  438  ; Nebraska,  1 
to  487  ; Tennessee,  1 to  525  ; Texas,  1 to  549  ; Arkansas,  1 
to  554  ; Alabama,  1 to  608  ; Georgia,  1 to  612  ; Florida,  1 to 
653  ; Mississippi,  1 to  654  ; Virginia,  1 to  693  ; North  Carolina, 
1 to  708  ; Maine,  1 to  731  ; Vermont,  1 to  812  ; West  Virginia, 

1 to  817  ; Kansas,  1 to  877  ; South  Carolina,  1 to  708.” 

Dr.  Rcmbaugh  makes  many  practical  suggestions.  He  says 
that  "it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  the  public  mind  should 
be  disabused  of  the  idea  that  the  various  non-alcoholic  drinks 
are  substitutes  for  alcohol,  or  that  any  such  substitutes  arc 


156 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


required.  Alcohol  is  a poison  through  and  through  ; the  real 
substitutes  are  also  poisons — viz.,  ether,  chloral,  chloroform, 
etc.”  "The  digestive,  nutritive  qualities  of  barley  are  de- 
stroyed in  the  boiling  process  of  making  beer.”  He  urges 
that  coffee  houses  and  pleasant  places  and  resorts  should  be 
provided  of  the  very  first  class  and  on  some  comprehensive 
plan.  Perhaps  saloon  keepers  and  brewers  and  distillers 
would  change  their  business  and  cater  for  the  health  rather 
than  the  disease  of  the  public.  Mr.  L.  O.  Smith,  the  ex- 
brandy king  of  Sweden,  has  done  this,  and  now  cooks  to  sup- 
port the  life  of  a nation  lie  once  did  so  much  to  destroy  by 
drink.  There  is  a conscience  in  the  liquor  dealer  and  he  must 
be  reached  by  an  appeal  to  it  and  to  his  love  of  his  kind — 
which  includes  a living  chance  for  himself. 

Henry  Ward  Beecher  said  : "Every  year  I live  increases 
my  conviction  that  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks  is  a greater 
destroying  force  to  life  and  virtue  than  all  other  physical  evils 
combined.”  The  London  Times  says  : "Drinking  baffles  us, 
confounds  us,  shames  us,  mocks  us  at  every  point.  It  outwits 
alike  the  teacher,  the  man  of  business,  the  patriot  and  the 
legislator.  Every  other  institution  flounders  in  hopeless 
difficulties  ; the  public  house  holds  its  triumphant  course.” 
Cardinal  Manning  exclaims,  speaking  of  the  £140,000,000  = 
$700,000,000  expended  by  the  people  of  England  year  by 
year  for  intoxicating  drinks  : "Can  there  be  a more  complete 
waste  ? Expend  it  in  the  drainage  of  England  and  the  culture 
of  the  land  and  there  would  be  bread  for  the  hungry  mouths 

of  the  people  ; in  the  manufacture  of  cloth  and  there 

wTould  be  no  man  and  no  child  without  a coat  on  his  back ; 

in  the  building  of  houses  fit  for  human  habitation, 

and  there  would  not  be  a working  man  and  his  family  without 

a roof  over  his  head Nay,  I will  go  further.  It  is 

not  only  a waste,  it  has  a harvest.  It  is  a great  sowing 
broadcast;  and  what  springs  from  the  furrows?  Deaths, 
mortality  in  every  form,  disease  of  every  kind,  crime  of  every 
die,  madness  of  every  intensity,  misery  beyond  the  imagina- 
tion to  conceive.” 

To  this  utterance  of  the  London  Times  quoted  by  Dr. 
Rembaugh  I will  add  that  of  the  JTew  York  Tribune , that 
these  leading  journals  of  the  two  hemispheres  may  be  on 


TESTIMONY  OF  LEADING  JOURNALS. 


157 


record  in  the  cause  of  humanity  together.  March  2,  1884, 
the  Tribune  says  in  an  editorial  on  the  liquor  traffic,  with 
a force  and  moral  elevation  seldom  excelled  in  human 
composition  : 

It  is  impossible  to  examine  any  subject  connected  with  the 
progress,  the  civilization,  the  physical  well-being,  the  religious  con- 
dition of  the  masses,  without  encountering  this  monstrous  evil.  It 
lies  at  the  center  of  all  political  and  social  mischief.  It  paralyzes 
energies  in  every  direction.  It  neutralizes  educational  agencies. 
It  silences  the  voice  of  religion.  It  baffles  penal  reform.  It 

obstructs  political  reform There  is  needed  something  of 

that  sacred  fire  which  kindled  into  inextinguishable  heat  the  zeal 
of  the  abolitionists,  and  which  compelled  the  abandonment  of 
human  slavery  to  rouse  the  national  indignation  and  abhorrence 
against  this  very  much  greater  evil. 

Resuming  the  thread  of  Dr.  Rembauglfs  pamphlet : Our 
school  children  should  be  early  taught  the  chemical  and 
physiological  effects  of  alcohol.  Dr.  Channing,  "A  people 
should  be  guarded  against  temptation  to  unlawful  pleasures 
by  furnishing  the  means  of  innocent  ones,  such  as  produce 
a cheerful  frame  of  mind.”  Mr.  J.  A.  Partridge  asks 
" why  the  honest  working  man  should  carry  a drink-made 
pauper  on  his  back  as  he  now  does.”  "I  would  appeal  to 
the  myriads  of  the  dead,  dead  through  drink,  whose  his- 
tory is  still  vocal  with  the  anguish  and  despair  that  found 
no  utterance  from  the  living  lips.”  With  a fact  knotted 
into  the  lash,  Dr.  Reinbaugh  gives  a mighty  parting  stroke 
to  the  blood-streaming  back  of  the  excoriated  traffic,  and 
closes  thus:  "One  million  people  depend  on  the  beer  traffic 
for  support  in  this  country.  In  1840  four  gallons  of  liquor 
were  consumed  for  every  man,  woman  and  child  in  America; 
in  1883  the  amount  has  increased  from  four  gallons  to  twelve.” 

Nothing  is  so  terrible  to  the  traffic  as  the  publication  of  the 
truth.  As  wc  have  already  seen,  this  increase  of  quantity  is 
attended  with  diminution  of  intensity,  but  of  pure  alcohol  wre 
now  consume  more  per  capita  than  in  1840.  The  poisonous 
effect  of  a given  quantity  of  alcohol  is  not  diminished  by  its 
administration  through  a large  mass  of  fluid,  and  the  aggre- 
gate evil  was  never  greater  among  us  than  now. 


158 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


Dr.  TV  illiam  Pepper  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania, 
author  ot  the  great  work  on  Medical  Practice,  and  whose 
conceded  prominence  in  the  profession  gives  a special  sig- 
nificance to  whatever  he  may  say,  sends  the  following  brief, 
but  decided  and  invaluable  communication.  I think  it  one 
of  the  most  encouraging  indications  of  the  time  that  the 
men  who  are  making  the  medical  history  of  to-day,  and 
'whose  names  are  to  survive  to  coming  generations,  are  more 
and  more  espousing  the  cause  of  man  against  alcohol. 

Commonly  one  hears  the  question  put  in  this  form  : Is  Alcohol  a 
food  or  a poison  ? It  is  neither  the  one  nor  the  other.  It  is  not  a 
food  in  the  common  and  correct  acceptation  of  the  term,  though  it  has 
points  of  resemblance  with  foods.  It  is  not  strictly  speaking  a poison, 
though  it  often  produces  highly-poisonous  effects.  It  is  to  be  regarded 
as  a medicine  or  a drug,  and  belongs  to  the  same  class  with  Opium, 
Indian  Hemp,  Tobacco  and  some  analogous  substances.  Nearly  all 
healthy  persons  can  with  impunity  taka  occasionally  a small  amount  of 
dilute  alcohol.  With  some  individuals,  however,  even  the  smallest 
quantity  disagrees  and  disorders  digestion  ; on  the  other  hand  a very 
small  proportion  of  individuals  seem  able  to  take  large  amounts  regu- 
larly for  many  years  without  damage.  But  I do  not  doubt  that  this 
impunity  is  more  apparent  than  real,  and  that  nearly  all  such  persons 
are  slowly  but  surely  injured  by  the  habit.  One  of  the  worst  features 
of  the  action  of  alcohol  in  a large  majority  of  young  persons  is  that, 
though  taken  in  small  amount  and  even  in  the  form  of  light  wines  or 
beer,  its  first  agreeable  effect  is  followed  by  a feeling  of  lassitude  and 
depression,  readily  mistaken  for  debility,  and  suggesting  a repetition  of 
the  stimulant.  But  these  unpleasant  feelings  are  the  direct  result  of 
the  presence  in  the  blood  and  tissues  of  poisonous  matters,  coming 
from  the  imperfect  digestion  of  the  alcohol,  or  of  food  with  whose 
complete  assimilation  the  dose  of  alcohol  has  interfered.  Here  evidently 
is  a fruitful  source  of  functional  disorder  ; and  still  more  is  it  a source 
of  gradually-increasing  use,  ending  in  actual  excess,  with  its  inseparable 
physical  and  moral  degradation.  It  is  impossible  to  exclude  from  our 
consideration  this  enslaving  tendency  which  separates  alcohol  so  widely 
from  all  ordinary  articles  of  diet,  and  relegates  it  to  a special  class  of 
drugs.  I am  indeed  satisfied  that  all  persons  in  good  health  are  better 
without  alcohol  in  any  form  or  in  any  amount,  as  a regular  beverage. 
If  this  is  true  of  dilute  alcohol,  by  which  I mean  light  wines  or  beer 
or  greatly-diluted  spirit,  it  may  be  asserted  without  hesitation  that  all 
stronger  forms  of  alcohol  capable  of  causing  positive  local  stimulation 
or  irritation  of  the  stomach  should  be  regarded  purely  as  drugs,  and- 


DK.  PEPPEll’S  LETTEIt. 


159 


be  used  exclusively  under  medical  advice.  Their  habitual  use  by 
healthy  persons  is  highly  injurious  and  involves  the  risk  of  develop- 
ing serious  disease.  It  is,  however,  impossible  to  deny  the  great 
value  of  alcohol  even  in  large  amounts  during  critical  stages  of  some 
acute  diseases.  And  I can  speak  with  confidence  of  the  beneficial 
effects,  in  suitable  cases  as  determined  by  a physician,  of  small 
amounts  of  dilute  spirit,  or  of  generous  wine,  taken  as  a stimulant 
by  weak  and  elderly  persons.  While,  however,  we  admit  the  thera- 
peutic value  of  alcohol  in  these  and  other  suitable  cases,  it  is  clear 
to  me  that  every  medical  man  should  prescribe  it  with  a distinct 
recognition  in  each  individual  case  of  the  special  danger  attaching  to 
its  habitual  use. 

William  Pepper. 

This  long  chapter  must  close.  But  there  is  no  one  thing 
more  important  to  the  temperance  reform  than  that  the  medi- 
ical  profession  should  set  its  face  firmly — like  a flint,  against 
the  use  of  alcoholic  beverages,  and  should  restrain  so  far  as 
possible  the  administration  of  this  dangerous  drug  in  disease. 
I believe  that  the  grave  degree  of  responsibility  for  the  pre- 
valence of  intemperance,  which  attaches  to  those  who  pursue 
this  high  calling  by  reason  of  the  deserved  and  almost  uni- 
versal confidence  reposed  in  them  by  the  people,  is  more  and 
more  realized ; and  that  as  the  teachings  of  Dr.  Davis  and 
Dr.  Richardson  are  studied,  and  more  and  more  prevail,  ''the- 
day  of  our  redemption  draweth  nigh.” 


CHAPTER  IX. 


ALCOHOL  IS  PAUPERISM  AND  CRIME 


The  Two  Great  Burdens  of  Society — The  Difference  and  the  Likeness 
between  Them — What  the  Pauper  Returns  of  Massachusetts  Show — 
Figures  and  Facts  from  Almshouse  Superintendents — Sir  Matthew 
Hale’s  Statement  of  the  Causes  of  Crime — Experience  of  New  York 
Officials — What  Governor  Dix  said  in  1873 — Startling  Facts  about  the 
Effects  of  Beer  Drinking  by  Women — A New  Hampshire  Opinion 
Based  on  Practical  Experience. 

AUPERISM  and  crime  are  the  two  great  burdens  of 


society.  Nearly  every  other  form  of  taxation  upon  the 


income  or  productive  force  of  the  people,  whether  imposed  by 
the  state  or  submitted  to  voluntarily  from  motives  of  charity 
■or  otherwise,  is  in  the  nature  of  an  investment  made  with  a 
view  of  affirmative  beneficial  returns.  Even  money  paid  for 
the  relief  of  the  sick,  anticipates  their  restoration  to  health 
and  profitable  life. 

But  money  paid  to  a pauper,  simply  because  he  is  a pauper, 
too  poor  to  live  from  his  own  exertions,  has  in  view  his  indi- 
vidual relief  from  suffering — not  any  pecuniary  good  to  those 
who  support  him.  Better  for  society  that  he  be  removed — he 
is  a mere  cumberer  of  the  ground.  Belief  which  gives  oppor- 
tunity for  labor  and  a return  for  aid  received,  is  but  the 
discharge  of  the  great  debt  of  society  to  afford  every  human 
being  the  opportunity  for  honest  toil,  and  I do  not  consider 
that  in  any  sense  charity.  I refer  to  the  support  of  pauper- 
ism pure  and  simple. 

In  the  case  of  crime,  its  detection  and  punishment,  the 
•whole  is  a dead  loss  and  burden  placed  upon  honesty  and 
good  citizenship  ; indispensable,  to  be  sure,  for  protection  and 
defense  of  society,  but  still  the  whole  is  an  expenditure  which 
endeavors  not  to  relieve  the  original  injury,  but  to  prevent 
the  infliction  of  like  losses  in  future.  'Whatever  has  been 
done  is  without  remedy,  even  when  a money  penalty  is  exacted, 
for  then  the  loss  is  only  shifted  from  the  victim  or  the  State 


1G0 


PAUPERISM  IN  MASSACHUSETTS. 


161 


to  the  perpetrator,  who  is  himself  an  actual,  and  should  be  a 
productive,  member  of  society,  and  it  does  not  lessen  the  evil 
to  the  whole  that  it  falls  upon  one  individual  rather  than 
another.  Crime  is  destruction,  and  pauperism  is  next  to  it. 
Both  consume  everything  and  produce  nothing— good.  The 
one  is  a (ire  to  be  put  out  for  the  future  protection  of  all ; the 
other  lies  helpless  and  hopeless  on  the  bank  of  the  Ganges. 
The  heathen  throws  the  breathing  but  useless  body  into  the 
stream ; Christian  charity  builds  a hospital  and  provides  a 
home.  In  cither  case,  society  would,  in  money  at  least,  be 
better  off  if  there  had  been  no  pauper  and  no  criminal.  But 
taxes  for  highways  and  for  schools  are  money  directly 
invested  in  public  and  private  happiness. 

The  traffic  in  alcohol  is  the  chief  creator  and  promoter  of 
these  public  evils,  and  in  this  chapter  it  is  well  to  endeavor 
to  obtain  an  idea  of  their  extent. 

It  will  be  at  once  apparent  that  there  are  various  causes 
which  contribute  to  these  evils ; and  there  is  room  for  the 
imagination  as  well  as  the  judgment  in  apportioning  to  each 
its  aliquot  share  of  the  common  bad  result.  Still . as  we 
know  that  alcoholic  poisoning  is  the  great  promoter  of 
diarcTconditions  to~IaTkTr;  of  "laziness,  mental,  physical  and 
moral  wealcnesiCirnd  v icious'  TtisposiidonTn~societ.v.  and  that 
jthese_are -the  - chief--caus.es .uTTibsolutc  and  nelpless  poverty, 
(which  is  pauperism,)  and  of  crime,  it  follows-  that" strong 
drink  is  very  largely  their  indirect  origin;  and  we  know  that 
in  the  overt  act  of  crime,  and  in  the  manifest  existence  of 
pauperism,  spirituous  drink  is  generally  the  direct  agency. 
I shall  not  enter  upon  elaborate  calculations  to  fix  the  mathe- 
matical dimensions  of  this  responsibility,  but  shall  give  some 
facts  from  authentic  sources,  and  opinions  of  high  and  com- 
petent authority,  which  should  arouse  public  attention  and 
excite  thfe  public  will  to  the  extermination  of  this  social 
Fiend. 

The  pauper  returns  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts  are 
made  annually  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  and  it  is  well  known 
that  this  Commonwealth  is  in  advance  of  any  other  community 
in  the  fullness  and  accuracy  of  its  social  statistics ; while  the 
intelligence  of  her  people,  the  vast  variety  and  extent  of  her 
industries,  and  the  excellence  of  her  government  and  institu- 
11 


1G2 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


t.ions,  should  make  both  pauperism  and  crime  more  rare  than 
elsewhere  in  the  world.  Notwithstanding  these  facts,  there  is 
a great  degree  of  both  among  her  people. 

The  returns  referred  to  show  an  average  of  80  per  cent,  of 
pauperism  in  the  county  of  Suffolk,  mainly  the  city  of  Boston, 
to  be  occasioned  by  intemperance.  In  the  year  18G3,  for 
instance,  the  whole  number  of  paupers  relieved  was  12,248, 
of  which  number  6,048  were  made,  so  by  their  own  intemper- 
ance, and  3,837  by  that  of  parents  and  guardians,  in  all  9,885 
— nearly  live  sixths  of  the  whole  number. 

The  report  of  the  Board  of  State  Charities,  p.  202  (January, 
18G7),  declares  intemperance  to  be  the  chief  occasion  of 
pauperism.  Their  fifth  report  says  that  "Overseers  of  the 
poor  variously  estimate  the  proportion  of  crime  and  pauper- 
ism attributable  to  the  vice  of  intemperance  from  one  third  in 
some  localities,  up  to  nine  tenths  in  others.  In  the  sixth 
report  of  the  Board  of  Health,  the  Chairman,  Dr.  Bowditch, 
states  that  he  made  the  following  inquiries,  and  received 
replies  from  282  of  the  towns  and  cities  : 

1 . What  proportion  of  the  inmates  of  your  almshouses  are  there  in 
consequence  of  the  deleterious  use  of  intoxicating  liquors? 

2.  What  proportion  of  the  children  are  there  in  consequence  of  the 
drunkenness  of  parents? 

The  Superintendent  of  Deer  Island  Almshouse  and  Hospi- 
tal replied  : " I would  answer  the  above  by  saying,  to  the  best 
of  my  knowledge  90  per  cent,  to  both  questions.”  The 
authorities  of  the  city  of  Springfield  reported  that  they  had 
fed  8,052  tramps  ; seldom  found  one  not  reduced  to  that  con- 
dition by  intemperance.  "It  is  safe  to  say  nine  tenths  are 
drunkards.”  Paupers  beget  paupers.  Pauperism  descends 
as  certainly  as  scrofula,  cancer,  consumption  or  insanity. 
The  North  American  Review , of  April,  1875,  contains  the 
following  from  Dr.  E.  Harris,  Registrar  of  the  Board  of  Health 
of  New  York:  "A  pauper  named  Margaret  lived  in  Ulster 
county  some  eighty-five  years  ago.  She  and  two  sisters 
have  begotten  generations  of  paupers  and  criminals  to  such  an 
extent  that  the  total  number  now  known,  mainly  from  Mar- 
garet— convicts,  paupers,  criminals,  beggars  and  vagrants, 
including  the  living  and  dead — is  six  hundred  and  twenty- 


Hon.  Geo.  IV.  Bain. 


THE  SOURCE  OF  CRIME. 


163 


three.  This  mother  of  criminals  has  cost  the  county  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  dollars.”  If  society  is  endued  with  the  right 
of  self-defense,  shall  such  degraded  and  abandoned  creatures 
be  permitted  to  perpetuate  their  kind  ? There  is  somewhat 
too  much  of  "personal  liberty”  in  this,  especially  when  we 
are  told  that  the  primal  cause  of  :t  all — alcohol — is  to  thus 
breed  criminals  and  vagabonds  by  the  jail  full,  generation 
after  generation. 

Sir  Mathew  Hale,  Chief  Justice  of  England,  is  one  of  the 
few  even  among  the  greatest  lawyers  whose  fame,  acquired  in 
the  administration  of  the  law,  breaks  through  the  barriers  of 
mere  professional  immortality  and  survives  age  after  age,, 
close  cherished  in  the  popular  heart.  Perhaps  he  was  specially 
eminent  in  the  department  of  criminal  jurisprudence,  certainly 
his  " Pleas  of  the  Crown  ” has  never  been  surpassed  as  an 
authority  in  that  department  of  the  law.  In  1670  Chief 
Justice  Hale  declared  : 

The  places  of  judicature  I have  long  held  in  this  kingdom  have 
given  me  an  opportunity  to  observe  the  original  cause  of  most  of  the 
enormities  that  have  been  committed  for  the  space  of  twenty  years  ; 
and  by  due  observation  I have  found  that  if  the  murders  and  man- 
slaughters, the  burglaries  and  robberies,  the  riots  and  tumults,  the 
adulteries,  fornications,  rapes,  and  other  enormities  that  have  happened 
in  that  time,  were  divided  into  five  parts,  four  of  them  have  been  the 
issues  and  product  of  excessive  drinking — of  tavern  or  ale-house 
drinking. 

The  testimony  of  eminent  judges  and  of  other  high  authori- 
ties ever  since  and  down  to  the  present  day,  both  in  Europe 
and  America,  is  to  the  same  effect.  I have  seen  no  authority 
which  places  the  proportion  of  crime  committed  as  the  out- 
come of  intoxicating  drink  at  less  than  two  thirds,  while  some 
fix  it  with  great  confidence  at  nine  tenths. 

Dr.  Elisha  Harris  of  New  York,  after  an  inspection  of  the 
prisons,  wrote  that  full  85  per  cent,  of  the  convicts  gave  evi- 
dence of  having  been  "in  some  larger  degree  enticed  to  do 
criminal  acts”  from  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks,  and  the 
Board  of  Police  Justices  of  that  city,  in  1874,  say  they  are 
fully  satisfied  that  intoxication  is  "the  one  great  leading  cause 
which  renders  the  existence  of  our  police  courts  necessary.” 


164 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


The  Report  of  the  State  Board  of  Charities  of  Massachusetts 
tor  1869  traces  four  fifths  of  the  crime  of  the  commonwealth 
to  intemperance.  The  inspectors  of  Massachusetts  State 
Prison,  in  1868,  say  that  "about  four  fifths  of  the  number 
committed  the  crimes  for  which  they  were  sentenced,  either 
directly  or  indirectly,  by  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks. 
These  men  were  confined  for  the  more  heinous  crimes. 

Judge  Noah  Davis,  of  New  York,  whose  reputation  is  too 
high  and  well  known  to  require  commendation  says  that 
ninety  per  cent,  of  the  criminal  business  of  the  courts  is 
caused  by  the  liquor  traffic. 

The  Christian  Advocate  says:  "Some  _years  ago  a strik- 
ing comparison  was  made  between  Vineland,  New  Jersey, 

and  New  Britain,  Ct They  each  had  about  11,000 

inhabitants  ; New  Britain  had  80  saloons  ; Vineland  had  none 
New  Britain  paid  $8,500  for  the  care  of  paupers;  Vineland 
$224.  New  Britain  paid  for  police  $7,500  ; Vineland  $75.” 

In  1872  the  Board  of  Public  Charities  of  Pennsylvania 
said:  "The  most  prolific  source  of  disease,  poverty  and 
crime  is  intemperance.”  The  Citizens  Association  of  Penn- 
sylvania, which  was  chartered  by  the  state,  declare  that  it 
will  not  be  doubted  that  two  thirds  of  the  pauperism  and 
crime  are  justly  attributed  to  intemperance.  In  1867  the 
cost  of  maintaining  the  prisoners  in  county  jails  and  in  the 
penitentiark  s of  Pennsylvania  was  $1,464,029 — $2.45  for 
each  voter  in  that  state — including  paupers  and  criminals,  due 
to  strong  drinks,  was  $2,204,244. 

In  1870  the  cost  of  pauperism  alone  to  this  country  was  over 
$7,000,000,  direct  loss  from  strong  drink;  indirect  loss,  as 
much  more.  It  is  not  less  than  $20,000,000  in  all,  yearly,  at 
the  present  day. 

In  1873,  Governor  Dix,  in  his  message  to  the  New  York 
Legislature,  said:  "The  alarming  increase  in  the  frequency 
of  the  crime  of  murder  in  the  city  and  its  environs  demands 
your  most  serious  consideration.  Scarcely  a day  passes 
without  witnessing  a brutal,  and  in  man}7  instances  a fatal 
assault,  upon  the  persons  of  unoffending  individuals,  usually 
in  drinking  saloons.”  Eight  thousand  of  the  ten  thousand 
arrests  in  Baltimore  were  owing  to  the  same  cause  in  1873. 

Hon.  William  J.  Mullen,  prison  agent  of  Philadelphia,  in 


BEER-DRINKING  WOMEN. 


165 


:i  paper  to  the  National  Congress  held  in  Baltimore  in  1872, 
stated  that,  "of  the  half-million  persons  who  had  been  commit- 
ted to  the  county  prison  of  Philadelphia  during  the  last  twenty 
years,  there  had  been  about  live  hundred  for  murder,  seven 
hundred  for  attempts  to  murder ; over  forty  thousand  for 
assault  and  battery,  and  over  200,000  for  drunkenness.  In 
nearly  every  case  of  murder  or  attempt  to  murder , the  parties 
were  intoxicated” 

Rowland  Burr,  Esq.,  a magistrate  of  Toronto,  Canada, 
stated  to  the  Canadian  Parliament  "that  nine  tenths  of  the 
male  prisoners  and  nineteen  twentieths  of  the  females  are  sent 
to  jail  by  intoxicating  drinks.  Of  twenty-five  thousand  sent 
to  the  Canada  jails  in  four  years,  twenty-two  thousand  owed 
their  imprisonments  to  drinking  habits. 

In  1876  there  were  spent  in  Pennsylvania  for  criminals 
$1,324,604;  for  dependents,  $1,942,916  ; in  all  $3,267,520; 
and  Dr.  Hargreaves  says  that  "of  this  more  than  $2,000,000 
is  directly  the  result  of  drink  and  the  licensed  drink  traffic ; 
for  every  drink-shop  is  a moral  plague-spot  and  a hot-bed 
of  destitution,  vice  and  crime.” 

If  we  estimate  the  yearly  direct  cost  of  crime  at  one  million 
dollars  for  each  million  of  population,  which  I am  satisfied  is 
a low  estimate,  we  have  an  aggregate  of  $60,000,000  at  the 
present  time,  $40,000,000,  if  not  $50,000,000  of  which  could 
be  saved  by  destroying  alcohol,  and  beside  saving  the  money 
we  coidd  prevent  the  crime  also.  I hope  my  money-loving 
countrymen  will  excuse  the  suggestion  of  this  last  circum- 
stance. Some  old-fashioned  people  may  think  it  important, 
although  of  course  it  is  nothing  compared  with  the  money. 

I insert  the  following  without  note  or  comment.  It  is  just 
published.  Will  you  please  think  of  it  for  one  half-hour, 
and  then  write  to  me  your  views  of  "National  Prohibition?” 

L.  M.  Hall,  Superintendent  of  the  Woman’s  Reformatory 
Prison,  Sherborn,  Mass.,  narrates  her  experiences  as  follows 
in  Godey’s  Lady’s  Boole; 

Out  of  an  examination  of  204  inebriate  women,  I found  that  128 
began  their  drinking  by  the  use  of  beer,  37  by  drinking  whisky  (as 
punch  at  first,  usually),  20  began  with  wine,  8 with  gin.  and  11  could 
not  remember  what  beverage  was  first  used.  These  young  girls,  mill 
and  shop  girls  largely,  began  by  going  to  some  so-called  refreshment 


1 GO 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


saloon  with  their  friends,  and  the  debutante  usually  began  by  sipping  a 
little  tonic  (made  of  hops,  sugar  and  water,  charged  with  carbonic 
acid  gas  and  colored  with  burnt  sugar)  ; beer  soon  followed,  and  soon 
rioting,  other  kinds  of  intoxicants,  recklessness  and  crime ; and  what 
was  an  innocent,  foolish  girl  yesterday  is  to-day  a branded  criminal, 
all  for  a glass  of  beer.  Alas  ! how  many  ruined  lives  I have  seen  ! 

Beer  was  also  the  beverage  which  older  inebriate  women  used  to 
entice  the  younger  ones  to  drink.  A call  upon  one  of  these  old  sots 
was  the  signal  for  the  pitcher  of  beer  to  be  sent  for,  and  a little 
coaxing  and  urging  would  result  in  the  first  fatal  glass  being 
indulged  in.  The  steps  were  then  easy.  Beer  is  the  trap  which  the 
drunkard  maker  sets  for  the  feet  of  the  unwary,  and  he  usually  makes 
sure  of  his  prey  because  of  it.  A glass  of  raw  whisky  would  have 
presented  but  slight  attraction  to  those  overworked,  half-fed  girls,  had 
it  been  offered  them  at  first.  After  that  sleeping  devil — the  appetite 
for  intoxicants — had  been  aroused  by  beer  it  became  altogether  a differ- 
ent matter,  and  at  last,  in  many  cases,  chloroform  or  peppermint  oil 
was  added  to  the  drink  of  these  maddened  creatures,  so  furious  had 
the  appetite  become  for  something  stronger. 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  note  that  out  of  the  204  inebriate  women, 
12G  had  been  guilty  of  other  crimes,  and  yet  in  but  16  instances  did 
the  first  commitment  of  crime  antedate  the  habit  of  drinking. 

Of  the  beverages  first  used,  while  in  but  37  cases  it  began 
with  whisky,  in  187  it  had  become  the  favorite  beverage.  Several 
hopeless  drunkards,  far  gone  toward  insanity,  had  never  drank  any 
other  intoxicant  than  beer. 

One  hundred  and  thirty-two  were  committed  to  prison  for  drunken- 
ness, 56  for  offenses  against  chastity  and  public  order,  and  16 
for  crimes  against  property.  Their  ages  when  last  committed  aver- 
aged 301  years.  Sixty-five  were  between  30  and  40  years  of  age, 
49  between  25  and  31  years  of  age,  34  between  20  and  2G  years  of 
age,  30  between  15  and  21  years  of  age.  The  remainder  were  over 
41  years  of  age. 

Many  of  the  older  ones  could  not  tell  how  many  sentences  they  have 
received,  showing  the  absolute  uselessness  of  punishing  these  poor 
creatures  while  the  temptations  are  left  in  their  way. 

To  show  the  effect  upon  the  children  of  inebriate  parentage,  I col- 
lected the  following : Of  111  inebriate  mothers,  33  of  whom  had 
inebriate  husbands,  408  children  were  born.  Of  these  227  perished 
in  infancy  and  early  childhood,  and  of  the  survivors  many  are  doomed 
evidently  to  an  early  death.  In  many  cases  the  death  of  these  children 
was  indirectly  due  to  the  inebriety  of  the  parents,  as  cold,  deprivation, 
etc.  Ages — Twenty-seven  of  the  204  women  began  to  drink  intoxi- 
cants before  they  were  10  years  of  age  ; 11  between  the  ages  of  9 and 


A NEW  HAMPSHIRE  OPINION. 


167 


15  ; 74  between  14  and  21  ; 37  between  20  and  2G  ; 33  between  25 
and  31  ; 19  between  30  and  41  ; 3 between  40  and  51. 

Average  age,  18  1-2  years.  More  than  one  half  had  formed  habits 
of  intemperance  before  they  were  21  years  of  age,  and  more  than  one 
third  at  the  giddy  age  of  from  15  to  20  inclusive. 

One  hundred  and  thirty-two  began  to  drink  socially  and  with  female 
friends. 

The  following  letter  from  Hon.  A.  G.  Fairbanks  of  Man- 
chester, N.  H.,  is  written  as  the  result  of  many  years  of 
jiractical  experience  and  observation  in  the  management  of 
the  business  affairs  of  a great  county,  embracing  the  two 
cities  of  Manchester  and  Nashua,  and  a large  rural  population 
also.  Mr.  Fairbanks  was  also  for  a long  time  a sheriff  in 
the  same  county.  There  could  be  no  more  competent  wit- 
ness, as  there  is  no  better  man. 

Manchester,  N.  H.,  Sept.  5, 1SS7. 

Dear  Sir  : — In  accordance  with  your  request,  I will  give  you  my 
opinion  of  the  effect  of  alcohol  in  all  its  different  mixtures  as  the 
cause  of  crime  and  pauperism  so  far  as  it  has  come  under  my  obser- 
vation, and  perhaps  it  would  not  be  out  of  place  here  to  say  that 
from  1865  to  1874,  I occupied  the  position  of  jailer  of  the  county 
of  Hillsborough,  the  largest  county  in  the  Granite  state,  and  from 
1883  to  the  present  that  of  commissioner  for  the  same  county,  the 
former  position  bringing  me  to  know  full  well  its  effect  upon  the 
offenders  of  the  law,  and  my  present,  its  effect  as  the  cause  of 
pauperism.  I would  give  it  as  my  opinion  in  the  matter  of  crime 
that,  directly  and  indirectly,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  seventy-five  per 
cent,  of  all  crimes  can  be  traced  to  the  use  of  alcohol  as  a beverage. 
During  the  time  I was  jailer  I had  under  my  charge  an  average  of 
forty  persons,  and  there  is  no  risk  in  saying  that  thirty  of  them 
(and  then  leave  a good  margin)  came  there  from  its  use.  I remem- 
ber of  once  making  the  statement  in  public  as  above,  and  that  dur- 
ing the  time  I was  jailer  I had  had  about  one  thousand  under  my 
charge,  of  all  ages  between  that  of  eighty  and  that  of  the  boy  of 
eight  years.  The  question  was  at  once  asked,  how  long  the  boy  of 
eight  had  been  a confirmed  drunkard  ; and  then  came  up  the  fact  in  all 
its  force  of  our  responsibility  in  the  care  and  training  of  our  children, 
and  that  this  boy’s  responsibility  was  not  so  great  in  his  breaking 
the  law  as  was  that  of  his  parents,  who  were  confirmed  drunkards. 
At  the  very  time  that  their  boy  was  found  in  the  store  into 
which  he  had  gained  entrance  in  the  night  time,  they  were  in  a state 
of  intoxication.  The  same  statement  which  I have  made  in  regard 


1G8 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


to  crime  can  be  fully  sustained  in  regard  to  pauperism , and  leave  as 
large,  if  not  a larger  margin  against  the  use  of  alcohol  as  a bever- 
age. Could  our  tax-payers  look  upon  the  crime  and  pauperism 
caused  by  this,  the  greatest  of  evils,  and  one  which  they  are  taxed 
to  support,  it  would  seem  that  they  would  rise  in  their  strength  and 
suppress,  if  not  banish,  the  monster  evil  from  our  land. 

Hoping  these  few  lines  will  aid  you  somewhat  in  the  good  cause 
in  which  you  are  engaged,  I remain,  as  ever, 

Very  truly  yours, 

A.  G-.  Fairbanks. 

It  will  be  easy  for  any  one  who  desires  further  statistics 
showing  the  relation  of  intemperance  to  pauperism  and  crimo 
to  be  that  of  the  first  great  cause,  to  obtain  them  ; but  I 
deem  it  unnecessary  to  mass  them  here. 


CHAPTER  X. 


INTEMPERANCE  AMONG  MANUAL  WORKERS. 


A Topic  that  is  closely  connected  with  the  Labor  Problem  — Testimony 
taken  by  the  Senate  Committee  — A Manchester  Carpenter’s  Thought- 
ful Observations  — Practical  Effect  of  the  Drinking  Habit  on  the  Skilled 
Trades  — Wages  and  the  Money  Spent  for  Drinks — Some  Considera- 
tions Based  on  Tenth  Census  Facts  — Edward  Atkinson’s  Calculations  — 
George  E.  McNeill’s  Contrary  Views  on  the  Subject  of  Economy  — Ilis 
Statement  of  the  Cost  of  Living — Mr.  Powderly’s  Answer  to  a Critic  — 
A letter  in  which  he  Defends  his  Position  as  an  Ultra  Temperance 
Sian  — Tils  Presentation  of  the  Cost  of  the  Drinking  llabit  to  Working- 
men— Testimony  of  Fall  River  Mill  Hands  — Some  Final  Considerations 
upon  the  Relation  of  Temperance  to  the  Wage  and  Labor  Problems. 

X this  chapter  I desire  to  discuss  briefly  the  causes,  effects 


and  remedies  of  alcoholic  intemperance  among  those 


who  depend  upon  their  labor  for  support,  and  specially  but 
not  wholly  from  an  economical  point  of  view.  This  topic  is 
closely  connected  with  the  labor  problem,  a subject  which  of 
itself  would  require  volumes,  and  I shall  not  presume  to  be 
thorough  or  dogmatic  where  the  greatest  minds  are  still  in  the 


dark. 


The  ills  of  poverty  and  of  intemperance  have  this  difference  : 
that,  however  they  may  produce,  exist  with  and  aggravate 
each  other,  the  former  arc  most  frequently  owing  to  causes 
beyond  the  control  of  the  sufferer  ; while  intemperance,  by  the 
consumption  of  strong  drink  is  a personal  act  for  which,  how- 
ever great  the  temptation  and  strong  the  impulse,  the  individ- 
ual is  directly  responsible.  This  statement  is  still  true,  although 
the  habit  may  at  last  become  irresistible.  The  enslaved  con- 
sumer sold  himself  and  is  therefore  guilty  of  bis  o\\  n tin  alldom. 
Poverty  on  the  other  hand  is  in  most  instances,  not  always  of 
course,  the  result  of  conditions  which  are  beyond  the  conti  ol 
of  its  victim.  The  great  body  of  those  who  suffer  foi  the 
comforts  of  life  neither  elect  nor  create  their  condition.  Nor 
do  they  remain  in  it  from  lack  of  the  same  degree  of  desire 
and  effort  to  obtain  comfort  and  competency  which  is  manifest 


1G9 


170 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


on  the  part  of  those  who  are  in  less  exacting  circumstances. 
It  is  unjust  to  demand,  and  useless  to  expect,  of  those  who 
have  no  accumulation  of  means,  either  inherited  or  otherwise 
acquired,  the  exhibition  of  virtues  which  are  not  possessed  by 
others  in  more  fortunate  circumstances,  wThen  the  sacrifice  is 
made  from  the  absolute  necessaries  of  life.  If  the  poverty 
be  so  great  that  the  whole  nature  is  constantly  overtaxed, 
there  will  be  a strong  tendency  to  purchase  temporary  relief 
from  mental  horror  and  bodily  exhaustion  in  the  use  of  some 
agency  which  has  power  to  take  one,  for  the  moment  at  least, 
out  of  the  insufferable  environment.  Expenditures  of  this 
nature  constitute  a cause  of  poverty  that  illustrates  the  ten- 
dency which  any  condition  has  to  reproduce  or  increase  itself, 
and  to  create  additional  conditions  which  have  like  conse- 
quences. The  long  struggle  for  a competence,  and,  lacking 
that,  for  a decent  living,  in  which  most  human  beings 
engage,  thwarted  so  often  by  accident,  sickness,  misfortune, 
and  sometimes  by  the  absence  of  those  inherent  qualities  ot 
endui’ance,  frugality  and  hope,  which  others  possess  and 
which  are  a natural  or  acquired  capital  more  necessary  in  the 
battle  of  life  than  any  other ; the  innate  desire  to  enjoy  life 
to  some  extent  while  living,  if  possible,  and  to  escape  from 
its  hardships  when  there  ceases  to  be  expectation  of  further 
happiness  in  living,  very  often  drives  even  a powerful  mind 
to  despondency  and,  in  a manner,  compels  the  utilization  of 
surrounding  temptations  to  avoid  despair.  To  be  sure  the 
remedy  is  worse  than  the  disease,  and  there  is  no  escape  from 
personal  responsibility.  The  very  constitution  of  society 
compels  us  to  hold  every  reasonable  man  responsible  for 
the  natural  consequences  of  his  own  act ; but  we  are  speak- 
ing of  causes,  and  the  cause  of  intemperance  and  waste  and 
ruin  in  such  a case  as  I am  supposing,  was  expressed  by  the 
inspired  writer  upon  the  labor  question  when  he  said  that 
the  " destruction  of  the  poor  is  their  poverty.”  Nor  does 
the  fall  in  these  cases  imply  any  want  of  equal  strength  and 
merit  of  character  compared  with  others  who  do  not  fail 
because  of  different  surroundings.  Trifling  things  make  or 
mar  our  fortunes.  Individuals  are  merged  in,  and  controlled 
by,  the  system  of  which  they  are  a part.  It  is  a well- 
accredited  fact  that  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  merchants  of  our 


PERSONAL  SUCCESS  IN  TIIE  LABOR  SYSTEM. 


171 


large  cities  become  embarrassed  in  business  durum  their 
business  lives,  llieir  embarrassments  as  a rule  do  not  imply 
any  less  industry  or  economy  than  are  exhibited  by  the  few 
who  never  have  failed.  The  commercial  system  of  the 
country,  and  those  other  causes  in  the  course  of  nature  and 
in  general  affairs  by  which  the  individual  atom  is  controlled, 
sweep  him  on  to  fortune  or  destruction.  . In  a similar  way 
conditions  which  they  did  not  create,  and  which  they  cannot 
avo i dTjuiildrom^yhic h~th e \T  have  never  had  the  opportunity  or 
power  tojgscape.  cause  and  perpetuate  the  poverty  of  a large 
proportion  of  the  poor,  aniL-fittttffy  induce  them  to  yield  to 
habits  aiuIw-iccs_A\7iHch^dcstro\LalLliopcuviiatever . While  we 
Know  thaWthe . average  human  behm^will-siiccinnb  to  these 
^surroundings,  and  that  only  systematic  .effort  of  the 
and  their  gradual  uplifting  will  remove  these  causes  of  poverty 

humanity-ais-4he--^aidhefURke-Keaves_  up  the  mountainv__or  by._ 
continual  pressure  lift  the  continent  to  its  place — it  still 
remains  true  that  the  expenditure  of  TheTruits  of  industry  or 
the  idleness  and  destruction  of  the  power  to  work  itself,  by 
reason  of  any  needless  or  vicious  indulgence,  has  its  evil  con- 
sequences, and  the  individual  and  society  must  suffer  so  long 
as  he  yields  to  its  practice.  While  I would  not  overlook  the 
responsibility  of  society  at  large  for  much  of  the  want  and 
suffering  which  exist,  still  it  remains  true  that  whatever 
remedy  we  get  must  come  almost  wholly  from  ourselves,  and 
each  one  will  only  add  to  his  inevitable  troubles  by  the  grati- 
fication of  any  bad  habit  or  propensity.  So  it  has  been,  so  it 
will  be  ; and,  whatever  the  excuse  or  the  unavoidable  cause, 
the  consequence  will  follow. 

It  is  of  little  use  then  for  us  to  complain  of  those  conse- 
quences, the  causes  of  which  either  are  or  have  been  of  our 
own  making.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  amelioration  of  our 
own  condition  is  to  a great  extent  under  our  own  control, 
and  that  we  are  ourselves  a great  and  responsible  part  of  that 
very  "society  ” whose  aggregate  power  must  apply  the  larger 
and  S3rstematic  remedies  for  evils  in  the  life  of  the  commu- 
nity as  a whole.  In  a country  like  this  he  is  a vagabond,  indeed, 
who  has  not  or  may  not  make  at  least  the  opportunity  for 
honest  work  and  frugal  saving.  If  he  cannot  save  he  need 


172 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


not  waste.  And  here,  too,  the  poor  man,  the  man  of  moder- 
ate means,  can  make  the  law,  and  the  law  is  society  in  its 
highest  form  of  action. 

It  is  idle  for  us  to  attribute  the  habit  of  intemperance  to 
any  one  but  ourselves.  Every  man  must  make  an  effort  in 
this  world,  and  if  he  fails  in  everything  else  he  can  at  least 
die  conscious  of  having  done  his  best.  That  consciousness  is 
itself  victory.  The  old  Athenian  in  his  oration  over  the 
tombs  of  those  who  had  died  for  their  country  in  battle 
exclaimed  : " What  was  the  part  of  gallant  men  they  all 
performed.  Their  success  was  such  as  the  Supreme  Euler 
of  events  dispensed  to  each.”  So  in  the  battle  of  life.  Our 
responsibility  is  for  high  endeavor,  and  ends  there.  But  the 
man  who  wastes  his  resources  of  body  or  of  mind,  or  his 
time  or  his  money,  or  spends  them  for  that  which  satisfieth 
not,  has  no  claim  against  fortune,  and  is  in  no  condition  to 
prosecute  society.  He  is  his  own  curse  and  a curse  to  society 
also,  and  especially  to  all  those  who  depend  upon  their  daily 
labor  for  their  daily  bread.  I was  greatly  impressed  with 
this  fact  by  the  testimony  of  a mechanic  before  the  Senate 
Committee,  taken  in  the  investigation  upon  the  relations 
between  Labor  and  Capital. 

The  following  is  the  official  report  of  his  testimoiw  found 
in  Vol.  III.  of  Report  of  Senate  Committee  on  Education 
and  Labor,  p.  251,  in  answer  to  questions  proposed  by 
myself  : 

Manchester,  1ST.  H.,  October  la,  1883. 

Alphonso  Crosby  examined  by  the  Chairman  : 

Q. — Where  do  you  reside? 

A. — I reside  in  this  city. 

Q. — How  long  have  you  resided  here? 

A. — Thirteen  years. 

Q. — Have  you  had  occasion  to  make  any  observations  upon  the 
habits  of  the  people  here  as  to  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks  ? 

A. — I have. 

The  Chairman. — I understand  you  have  some  data,  some  statistics 
or  facts,  which  you  can  give  us,  so  please  proceed  to  do  so  in  your 
own  way,  with  a view  of  showing  the  bearing  of  intemperance  upon 
the  sufficiency  of  the  wages  received  by  working  people  for  their  labor. 

The  Witness. — I would  only  speak  especially  of  it  in  my  own  line. 
I am  a carpenter.  I have  worked  at  that  business  for  forty-one  years, 


Benjamin  R.  Jewell , 

Secretary  Massachusetts  Total  Abstinence  Society. 


LIQUOR  IN  THE  LABOR  PROBLEM. 


173 


and  it  has  always  been  my  study  to  advance  the  efficiency  of  journey- 
men carpenters.  I was  called  here  somewhat  hurriedly,  so  that  I have 
not  a full  opportunity  of  affording  you  actual  information,  but  there  is, 
I think,  among  the  carpenters  about  here,  25  per  cent,  that  are  total 
abstainers,  that  do  not  drink  at  till ; those  that  drink  moderately,  and 
that  drink  to  excess,  would  make  up  the  remainder.  The  habit  is  so 
strong  among  a few  that  it  injures  all.  We  are  actually  working  not 
only  in  Manchester,  but  elsewhere — and  I have  taken  pains  to  make 
inquiry,  and  have  had  some  experience  in  Chicago  and  Boston — and 
I am  convinced  that  nearly  all  mechanics  are  working  to-day  for  the 
prices  established  by  the  drinking  men,  because  the  drinking  men  are 
improvident,  and  are  obliged  to  sell  their  labor  at  the  lowest  figure, 
and  when  there  comes  a pressure  they  have  nothing  to  fall  back  upon 
and  so  must  go  into  the  market,  and  those  who  have  labor  to  buy  will 
of  course  buy  it  as  cheaply  as  they  can.  There  is  another  thing  that 
has  had  a tendency,  as  far  as  my  experience  has  gone.  Drinking  men 
have  been  at  the  bottom  of  strikes.  I was  once  a member  of  a car- 
penter’s association  formed  in  1861  or  1862  in  Boston,  and  it  was  all 
the  sober  men  could  do  to  keep  the  drinking  men  from  a strike.  We 
had  no  strike,  however  ; we  laid  our  case  before  the  employers,  and 
they  acceded  to  our  demands  readily  without  any  trouble. 

As  far  as  the  carpenters  are  concerned  the  employers  and  employees 
have  never  been  far  apart  in  New  England.  When  the  employer  has 
an  hour  or  two  of  leisure  he  takes  off  his  coat  and  goes  to  work  with 
his  journeymen,  but  the  agitation  of  the  labor  question  has  tended  to 
push  the  employer  and  employee  further  apart,  as  I look  upon  it  from 
my  stand-point,  and  the  drinking  habit  is  at  the  bottom  of  it.  But  I 
think  that  we  are,  as  a class  here  in  Manchester,  not  troubled  with 
that  as  much  as  in  most  places  in  New  England,  with  the  exception  of 
Maine.  In  Maine  whisky  is  not  so  easily  obtained,  and  of  course  the 
people  are  not  annoyed  by  it  as  we  are  here  and  in  some  other  places. 
There  is  a great  deal  of  perplexity  caused  among  the  employers  by  the 
drinking  men,  who  do  not  turn  up  as  they  ought  to  do  after  they  have 
been  paid.  Very  often  they  do  not  put  in  their  appearance  for  a day 
or  two.  What  the  percentage  of  loss  is  I am  not  able  to  say,  but  I 
know  that  in  one  shop,  of  which  I had  charge  in  Manchester,  the  men 
left  work  on  Saturday  night,  and  the  4th  of  July  came  on  Monday. 
My  crew  didn’t  get  to  work  before  the  next  Monday.  And  my  loss  on 
that  job  (which  was  a $3,000  job)  was  $50  then,  and  I judge,  if  I 
lost  as  much  as  that,  that  other  men  doing  a larger  business  must 
suffer  much  greater  than  I did. 

Q. — What  is  your  observation  upon  the  effect  of  the  drinking  habit 
upon  other  classes  of  workmen  in  this  city  or  elsewhere? 

A. — My  observation  is  that  when  the  habit  becomes  confirmed  in  a 


174 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


man  his  advancement  in  any  mechanical  business  is  stopped.  He  does 
not  advance  at  all.  He  will  either  remain  where  he  is  or  deteriorate. 

Q- — Do  you  think  this  habit  prevails  to  the  extent  of  absorbing  the 
wages  of  the  working  people  in  the  city  ? 

A. — Yes  : my  observation,  of  course,  is  limited,  but  at  least  there 
is  ten  per  cent,  of  the  proceeds  of  labor  in  this  city  that  goes  for 
alcoholic  drinks.  I think  I am  setting  it  quite  low,  but  there  is  a 
large  number  that  do  not  drink  at  all. 

Q. — You  feel  confident  that  ten  per  cent,  of  the  entire  wages  earned 
goes  for  drink? 

A. — I do  feel  positive  that  ten  per  cent,  of  the  entire  wages  earned  in 
Manchester  goes  for  intoxicants. 

Q. — Do  you  think  that  there  is  that  proportion  earned  which  is 
deposited  in  the  savings-banks? 

A. — Well,  I could  not  say  whether  it  is  or  not,  but  it  may  be  more. 
There  are  some  that  are  very  economical ; others  spend  the  whole  and 
are  continually  in  debt. 

Q. — From  your  observation  of  wages  paid  labor  in  this  city,  during 
the  time  you  have  lived  in  it,  thirteen  years,  you  say,  is  it  or  not  your 
judgment  that  it  has  been  reasonably  well  paid — that  is,  to  such  an 
extent  as  to  give  a good,  fair,  comfortable  support,  with  the  opportunity 
of  saving  something  for  disability  and  old  age? 

A. — Well,  1 think  that  the  wages  for  labor  have  been  reasonably 
well  paid  here  in  Manchester ; during  the  pressure,  during  the  hard 
times  as  we  call  it,  I think  the  wages  here  were  rather  in  advance  of 
what  they  were  in  any  of  the  cities  around  us.  But  since  times  got 
better  the  wages  of  the  carpenters  have  not  come  up  here  as  elsewhere. 
I know  of  no  case  where  the  habits  have  been  good  where  they  are  not 
comfortably  well  off,  and  some  are  accumulating  property. 

Q. — Is  there  any  other  fact  that  occurs  to  you  that  you  would  like  to 
state. 

A. — I don’t  know  that  there  is. 

The  testimony  of  Mr.  Crosby  is  that  of  one  who  knows  the 
very  heart  of  labor  because  lie  is  a toiler,  an  observer  and  a 
thinker  himself.  But  sometimes  those  of  the  best  intentions 
and  utmost  desire  to  be  both  virtuous  and  industrious  are  held 
as  in  a vise.  He  wdio  cannot  stir  must  have  help,  and  there 
are  many  to  whom  a dollar,  a lift,  or  even  a smile  or  tear  of 
sympathy,  is  the  very  power  of  God. 

It  is  inevitable  that  where  laborers  are  classified,  as  must 
be  the  case  for  many  years,  certainly  until  our  generation 
has  lost  all  interest  in  economic  questions,  the  rate  of  wages 


COST  OF  LIVING  AND  DRINKING. 


175' 


will  be  based  on  the  rate  received  by  those  who  earn  the  least 
in  their  class  ; and,  if  it  were  not  so,  the  better  laborer  would 
be  paying  a part  of  his  earnings  to  him  who  received  more 
than  his  due.  The  employer  cannot  pay  for  more  work  than 
he  receives  in  the  aggregate,  and  continue  to  employ  at  all. 

The  result  is  that  the  unskillful,  unreliable,  thriftless  and 
dissipated,  rob  not  themselves  alone,  but  the  whole  mass  of 
toilers  to  which  they  belong.  It  may  be  said  that  this  is  an 
evil  of  the  wage  system.  So  it  may  be.  But  the  wage 
system  is  a tremendous  dominating  fact  and  will  be  for  years. 
What  we  cannot  remove  we  must  adapt  ourselves  to  until 
we  can,  and  there  appears  to  me  to  be  no  doubt  that  intem- 
perance and  improvidence  reduce  largely  the  compensation  of 
the  sober  and  industrious  by  enabling,  if  not  by  compelling, 
the  employer  to  adjust  his  scale  of  pa}’ment  to  the  lowest, 
rather  than  the  highest,  standard  of  efficiency.  Payments  by 
the  piece  will  obviate  this  to  some  extent,  but  such  payments 
are  in  the  great  mass  of  wage  labor  at  present  impossible. 
The  loss  to  diligent  and  skillful  labor  from  this  source  is 
incapable  of  computation,  but  it  must  be  very  great,  and  I 
have  no  doubt  it  is  one  of  the  serious  causes  of  inadequate 
compensation  to  the  mass  of  those  whose  wages  are  the 
only  means  of  their  support. 

This  witness  was  an  honest  man  of  much  intelligence  and 
experience.  He  was  a practical  man,  whose  knowledge  was 
not  based  so  much  upon  figures,  which  sometimes  make  mis- 
takes even  if  they  never  lie.  I think  that  no  one  will  ques- 
tion the  truth  of  his  observations.  So  far  as  they  relate  to 
the  city  where  he  resides,  I believe  them  to  be  quite  within 
the  truth,  although  Manchester  is  one  of  the  most  industrious, 
sober  and  prosperous  cities  in  the  country.  There  is  another 
thing;  which  should  be  noted  in  regard  to  all  statistics  of  aver- 
ages  and  general  estimates. 

While  they  may  be  correct  in  showing  the  relation  of  the 
facts  concerned  to  the  community  or  class  as  a whole,  yet 
they  never  depict  the  real  state  of  the  case.  For  instance, 
to  say  that  labor  loses  ten  per  cent,  of  its  earnings  by  intem- 
perance, conveys  no  correct  idea  of  the  real  effect  of  the  vice. 
If  only  ten  per  cent,  were  thus  wasted  and  the  loss  and  con- 
sumption were  divided  equally  among  all,  it  would  be  vastly 


176 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


better  than  the  facts  really  are.  But  Mr.  Crosby  estimates 
that  twenty-five  per  cent,  of  the  carpenters  are  total  abstain- 
ers— they  waste  nothing  of  what  they  actually  receive ; the 
moderate  drinkers  spend  comparatively  little,  and  the  great 
loss  and  consequent  want  and  misery  fall  chiefly  upon  the 
remainder  and  their  families,  who  are  perhaps  one  fourth 
of  the  whole.  The  evil  thus  concentrated  results  in  star- 
vation, squalor,  disease,  crime  and  misery,  awful  to  con- 
template as  these  actually  exist.  If  we  could  divide  all  the 
evils  and  sorrows  of  the  ■world  per  capita,  and  work  or  sutler 
out  our  misery  in  equal  parts  daily,  it  might  be  endurable ; 
and  if  along  with  this  community  of  sorrows  there  could  be  a 
community  in  joys,  regardless  of  the  relations  between  cause 
and  effect,  perhaps  the  equal  division  of  evil  and  good  would 
leave  us  each  a tolerable  existence.  Statistics  of  averages 
seem  to  be  based  upon  some  such  utopian  thought.  But 
there  is  no  such  equalization  of  happiness  and  misery.  There 
is  a logic — a progression  from  cause  to  effect,  extending 
through  the  generations  and  so  on  to  a conclusion , which  is 
heaven  or  hell.  We  do  not  rest  in  equilibrium  or  on  a hori- 
zontal plane.  The  movements  of  individual  humanity  are 
upward  or  downward,  and  the  end,  whatever  it  may  be,  is  a 
logical  result  of  his  own  deeds,  or  those  of  his  ancestors, 
visited  upon  every  responsible  being. 

Who  then  shall  undertake  to  depict  the  terrible  conse- 
quences of  the  investment  of  ten  per  cent,  of  the  earnings  of 
labor  in  these  poison  drinks?  Men  ruined,  women  worse 
than  ruined,  fathers  and  mothers  heart-broken  and  crushed, 
husbands  and  wives  alienated,  brutalized,  grief-stricken, 
crime-stricken,  wretchedness,  despair  and  death  despoiling 
domestic  love  and  destroying  home — the  very  synonym  of 
heaven;  children  birth-cursed,  life-cursed,  struggling  up 
through  the  ban  of  society  which  buries  the  hapless  innocents 
— victims  of  its  own  n eel  me  nee  and  wrongs — under  the  heavy 
frown  of  humiliation  and  disgrace,  all  culminating  in  burdens 
too  grievous  to  be  borne,  and  weighing  down  the  bent  back 
of  the  body  politic  itself. 

There  are  332  manufacturing  industries  enumerated  in  the 
tenth  census  of  the  United  States.  The  amount  of  capital 
emplo}md  is  $2,790,272,606  ; the  number  of  laborers  employed 


WASTED  WAGES. 


177 


is  2,732,595  ; the  total  amount  of  wages  paid  for  the  year, 
$947,953,795;  the  total  value  of  materials,  $3,396,823,549; 
the  total  value  of  products  at  wholesale  price,  $5,369,579,191. 
Labor  is  17.65  per  cent,  of  the  wholesale  price,  or  a little  more 
than  one  sixth. 

The  number  of  hands  employed  includes  those  who  are  en- 
gaged in  the  manufacture  of  liquors  of  all  kinds,  33,689. 
These  industries  do  not  include  agriculture,  mining,  com- 
merce, trade,  transportation,  printing,  telegraphy,  profes- 
sional nor  common  laborers,  personal  or  household  servants, 
etc.,  or  scientific  labor  of  any  kind.  They  do,  however, 
include  trades  and  occupations  among  which  the  hardships  of 
poverty  are  perhaps  as  severely  felt  as  in  any,  and  among 
which  there  is  an  average  per  capita  consumption  of  alcoholic 
drinks. 

These  2,732,595  of  our  fellow-citizens  include  531,369 
women  over  15  years  of  age,  and  181,921  children  and 
youths,  in  all  713,290,  so  that  there  remain  male  workmen 
OA*er  16  years  of  age,  2,019,035.  If  wages  were  equally  divid- 
ed among  all  these  individuals,  the  average  yearly  earning  or 
wages  would  be  $346.  If  the  estimate  of  Mr.  Crosby  be  sub- 
stantially correct,  these  2,732,595  workers  would  invest 
ten  per  cent,  of  their  wages  in  intoxicating  beverages  or 
$94,795,379.  The  increase  of  population  since  1880  is  not  less 
than  10,000,000  or  twenty  per  cent,  of  50,000,000,  which  is 
a little  less  than  the  population  in  1880.  At  the  same  rate  of 
expenditure  the  same  classes  of  our  population  would  now 
spend  of  their  wages  $104,274,916.  As  only  2,019,035  are 
men,  or  say  in  round  numbers  2,000,000,  of  whom  probably 
500,000  are  total  abstainers,  1,000,000  of  the  remainder  mod- 
erate drinkers,  and  500,000  those  who  drink  to  a greater  or 
less  degree  of  excess — then  if  we  allow  $4,274,916  to  be  the 
total  amount  consumed  by  women  and  children,  which  is  no 
doubt  too  much,  it  will  be  probably  as  correct  an  estimate  as 
can  be  made,  to  say  that  the  1,500,000  men  consume  $69  or 
$70  each  annually  of  their  earnings  for  alcoholic  drinks. 

It  can  hardly  be  too  much  to  say  that  $50,000,000,  or  one 
half  the  amount  of  alcohol,  is  consumed  by  those  who  use  it 
to  excess,  of  whom  we  estimate  there  are  500,000  men,  giv- 
ing an  expenditure  of  $100  yearly  for  this  class,  and  $50  per 
12 


178 


THE  TEMPER  AH'  CE  MOVEMENT. 


year  by  the  moderate  drinker.  Xow  the  man  mho  drinks 
one  hundi’ed  dollars  worth  of  alcohol  yearly  will  lose  so  much 
time  in  consequence  thereof,  and  will  fail  as  a worker  in  so 
many  ways,  that,  as  a rule,  he  will  not  more  than  earn  the 
liquor  which  he  consumes  and  that  man  really  becomes  a dead 
weight  upon  his  family,  if  he  has  one,  and  upon  the  com- 
munity if  he  has  ixot,  or  more  likely  both  man _ and  family 
become  a public  burden.  Unless  he  reforms,  it  becomes, 
economically  considered,  a matter  of  little  impoi’tance  how 
soon  he  vanishes  from  the  scene  of  his  indixlgence.  From 
them,  and  such  as  they,  graduate  the  thousands  who  fall 
victims  to  the  destroyer,  and  although  their  ranks  are  more 
than  decimated  yearly,  yet  they  are  renewed  forever  from  the 
constantly  degenerating  ranks  of  the  moderate  drinkers  who 
are  steadily  traveling  the  same  downward  road. 

It  is  said  that  the  indirect  losses  to  the  country  from  the 
ti’affic  are  equal  to  the  dii'ect,  and  I think  no  one  can  candidly 
say  that  the  estimate  is  too  high — but  if  we  calculate  the 
consumption  of  all  who  are  engaged  in  what  are  termed  fhe 
"gainful”  occupations  ixpon  the  saixxe  basis  of  the  consump- 
tion of  ten  per  cent,  of  their  earnings  in  alcoholic  drinks,  we 
shall  find  these  estimates  very  moderate. 

The  money  paid  by  the  consumer  for  intoxicating  drink  in 
the  United  States  is  variously  estimated  at  from  $600,000,000 
to  $900,000,000  yearly.  Mr.  Edward  Atkinson,  the  eminent 
writer  upon  political  economy,  and  Mr.  F.  X.  Bari'ett,  the 
distinguished  editor  of  the  New  York  Grocer,  estimate  the 
sum  at  $700,000,000,  and  arrive  at  their  conclusions  in 
different  ways.  Xeither  of  these  gentlemen  would  be  likely 
to  overestimate  the  amount  and  it  is  probably  at  least 
$150,000,000  too  low. 

The  careful  estimates  we  have  already  given  with  those  of 
Mr.  Atkinson  and  Mr.  Barrett  nxoi'e  than  confirm  the  moder- 
ate per  cent,  adopted  by  Mr.  Crosby,  who  had  come  to  his 
conclusions  by  constant  study  and  close  observation  of  men 
and  things  around  him  for  fifteen  years.  Notwithstanding 
the  clamor  of  those  whose  living  depends  upon  being  paid  for 
systematically  destroying  their  fellow-men,  protected  therein 
by  the  guilty  co-operation  of  society  at  large,  that  "temper- 
ance statistics”  are  exaggerated  beyond  fable,  there  is  no 


THE  PROBLEM  CONSIDERED. 


179 


way  to  escape  the  terrible  conviction  that  they  are  too  small. 
If  they  are  to  any  extent  unreliable,  those  who  complain 
have  but  themselves  to  blame,  because  for  twelve  years  or  more 
these  temperance  " fanatics  ” have  been  beseeching  Congress 
for  an  impartial  commission  to  serve  the  public  without  per- 
sonal reward  and  to  be  composed  of  representatives  of  the 
liquor  traffic,  as  well  as  of  its  accusers,  to  inquire  into  the 
whole  subject-matter  under  discussion.  Six  times  at  least 
has  the  bill  for  this  purpose  passed  the  Senate  and  as  often 
has  it  been  defeated  by  the  direct  opposition  of  the  liquor  in- 
terest in  the  House  of  Representatives. 

Indeed  the  continual  defeat  of  the  "Alcoholic  Enquiry  Com- 
mission Bill”,  has  been  one  of  the  chief  glories  which  has 
blossomed  around  the  head  of  the  astute  and  sleepless 
gentleman  who  for  many  sessions  has  so  ably  guarded  the 
den  of  King  Alcohol  against  all  illumination  by  the  torch  of 
truth.  But  to  continue : Dr.  Hargreaves,  who  is,  I believe, 
reliable  and  correct  in  his  estimates  on  this  important  mat- 
ter, fixes  the  aggregate  amount  paid  directly  for  alcoholic 
beverages,  during  the  ten  years  from  1875  to  1886,  inclusive, 
at  the  enormous  sum  of  $7,809,815,615.  The  average  for 
the  first  five  years,  $675,080,460.  The  annual  average  for 
the  second  five  years,  $886,882,662,  and  the  annual  average 
for  the  ten  years,  $780,981,561.  I am  satisfied  that  even  this 
is  too  low,  but  it  is  infinitely  more  than  the  imagination 
can  comprehend,  and  in  these  vast  accounts  the  difference 
of  a hundred  millions  more  or  less  is  not  really  within  our 
grasp.  It  is  there,  however,  all  the  same,  and  works  death 
to  thousands  with  unfailing  certainty. 

If  to  these  payments  for  liquor  consumed  be  added  wThat  are 
called  indirect  losses,  such  as  waste  of  time  and  vitality,  dis- 
organization of  productive  forces,  to  support  paupers,  crimi- 
nals, administer  and  execute  the  laws,  destruction  of  valuable 
materials  and  perversion  of  capital  and  labor  from  useful  pur- 
suits, loss  by  premature  death  of  victims  annually,  to  say 
nothing  of  impaired  vitality  and  productive  powers,  the 
destruction  of  infant  life,  and  other  causes,  the  aggregate 
must  be  more  than  doubled.  Rev.  Charles  H.  Zimmerman 
says,  from  elaborate  calculation,  it  becomes  more  than  quad- 
rupled or  $4,000,000,000  annually. 

(See  Union  Signal,  June  16,  1887.) 


180 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


The  wage  workers  of  the  country  are  not  its  most  intem- 
perate and  wasteful  citizens  ; and  the  amelioration  of  their 
state  by  securing  better  conditions  of  toil,  with  the  oppor- 
tunity to  work  brought  within  reach  of  all ; reasonable 
hours,  well-ventilated  and  healthful  lodgings,  good  and  nutri- 
tious food,  opportunities  for  reading,  lectures  and  other  forms 
of  intellectual  improvement  and  entertainment ; occasional 
recreation  with  kindly  personal  intercourse  and  recognition  of 
the  common  humanity  which  exists  between  all  classes,  and 
especially  by  the  exhibition  of  good  feeling  on  the  part  of 
employers  and  managers,  which  is  sure  to  be  gratefully  recip- 
rocated, is,  in  my  belief,  the  first  step  and  most  efficient 
means,  next  to  the  destruction  of  the  liquor  itself,  of  remov- 
ing the  poverty  which  comes  from  intemperance.  But  if  the 
liquor  did  not  exist  the  temptation  would  not  exist,  and  the 
surroundings  of  the  toiler  being  rendered  comfortable  the 
disposition  to  save  would  assert  itself,  and  from  the  waste 
of  the  present  our  wage-working  people,  in  ten  years,  could 
banish  all  distressing  poverty.  The  saving  of  seventy  dollars 
a year  now  wasted  by  each  adult  laborer,  or  of  fifty  even, 
would  give  general  relief.  It  is,  however,  impossible  to 
expect  anything  of  the  kind  so  long  as  the  appetite  exists,  the 
liquor  is  made,  and  the  law  and  public  opinion,  or  public  in- 
difference, which  is  the  same  thing,  permit  the  present  con- 
ditions to  continue.  Some  force  outside  those  who  are  the 
victims  must  intervene.  Different  conditions  must  be  estab- 
lished by  those  who  already  have  the  power.  These  people 
need  the  hand  of  their  big  brother  who  is  alread}r  better  off. 
Society  as  a whole  must  bind  up  the  Avounds  of  its  members, 
and  the  chief  remedy  will  be  to  give  the  opportunity  of  self- 
help  by  removing  temptation  to  waste  and  A'ice  Avith  the  arm 
of  the  law. 

While  on  this  point,  howeArer,  I wish  further  to  obseiwe 
that  the  close  competition  of  the  times  has  already  reduced 
wages  so  low  that  only  by  strict  economy  can  the  aA'erage 
worker  support  himself  and  family  in  e\ren  the  coldl}7  com- 
fortable supply  of  the  Avants  Avhich  our  higher  civilization  has 
developed.  There  is  Arery  little  chance  for  him  to  saATe,  no 
matter  hoAV  economical  he  may  be,  unless  he  haA'e  also  income 
from  the  earnings  of  Avife  and  child. 

O 


Henry  H.  Faxon , 

*•  of  Quincy." 


WAGE  OF  THE  AVERAGE  WORKER. 


181 


Mr.  Atkinson  estimates  the  wage  of  the  average  worker  at 
$450  per  year.  I do  not  think  he  actually  realizes  more  than 
$300  or  at  most  $350.  Many  get  more,  many  others  less, 
and  here  comes  in  again  this  wicked,  misleading  average — 
but  it  is  the  way  folks  theorize,  so  let  us  go  on  with  it. 

Mr.  George  E.  McNeill,  the  eminent  industrial  student  and 
leader,  the  author  of  that  timely  and  valuable  work,  "The 
Labor  Movement,”  in  a letter  recently  published,  gives  the 
items  of  expense  in  the  family  of  an  intelligent  workman  as 
shown  by  his  accounts.  Replying  to  some  one  who  proposes 
economy  as  the  only  remedy  required  for  the  ills  of  life,  he 
says  : 

Our  correspondent’s  next  remedy  is  economy.  Next  to  the  word 
liberty,  no  more  sins  have  been  committed  in  any  one  name  than 
in  that  of  economy.  The  average  wages  of  labor  in  this  state  are  not 
enough  to  furnish  the  necessities  of  our  civilized  conditions.  Let  us 
examine  an  example  of  the  proper  expenditure  of  money,  as  shown 
from  the  accounts  kept  by  an  intelligent  workingman. 

Here  is  a family  of  four  persons,  living  in  their  own  house : Gro- 
ceries cost  $158.0”  ; provisions,  $96.25  ; vegetables,  $15.57  ; clothing, 
$142.68  ; fuel,  $49  ; light,  $5.40  ; furniture,  $3.68  ; education,  $1.85  ; 
sickness,  $12.62  ; charity,  $2.50  ; religion,  $2.46  ; newspapers  and 
periodicals,  $11.36  ; total,  $501.42. 

To  these  expenses  must  be  added  the  following:  Hair-cutting,  60c.  ; 
freight  on  tool-chest,  $3  ; dentistry,  $3.50  ; toilet  articles,  $2.40  ; 
Christmas  and  bridal  presents,  $9.25  ; amusements,  $1.42  ; repairing 
clock,  wringer  and  stove,  $4.05  ; water  bill,  $8  ; tools,  $10.23  ; boy 
boarding  in  country  two  weeks,  $5 ; balance  on  sewing-machine, 
$31  ; taxes,  $44  ; repairs  on  house,  $26.12  ; interest  on  mortgage, 
$40  ; total,  $185.57,  or  a grand  total  of  expense  for  one  year  of  $686.99. 

To  these  should  be  added  expenditures  for  recreation  and  travel,  and 
meals  away  from  home  when  at  work  at  a distance.  No  family  should 
live  any  more  economical  than  this.  The  food  costs  about  18  cents 
per  day  for  each  person.  The  clothing  $35.50  each  for  the  year. 
The  taxes,  water  rates,  repairs,  etc.,  are  equivalent  to  $118.12  for 
rent,  or  with  the  interest  on  the  valuation  less  the  mortgage,  $238.12. 

I have  given  these  figures  that  our  economic  friends  may  see  that  the 
total  expenses  of  this  family,  covering  as  they  do  only  the  needed  things 
of  a civilized  life,  are  at  least  $300  more  than  the  average  annual 
earnings  of  wage  workers. 

I quite  concur  with  those  who  believe  that  there  are  many 
causes  of  poverty  beside  intemperate  drinking,  smoking  and 


182 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


the  like.  But  m3'  point  is  that,  on  the  other  hand,  intemper- 
ance alone  must  be  a great,  I think  the  greatest,  subtraction 
from  the  actual  earnings  of  the  producer — earnings  at  best 
hardly  sufficient  for  the  comfortable  support  of  a famil}' — and 
this  loss  is  something  that  might  be  saved,  and  either  laid 
up  for  a rainy  day  or  expended  at  once  for  necessity  or  for 
rational  enpyment. 

Look  over  that  table  of  expenditures.  "Who  can  demand 
them  to  be  smaller  unless  he  does  so  from  the  impulses  of  a bru- 
tal nature  ? But  when  }mu  subtract  $50  or  $100  for  rum — then 
take  out  further  from  the  earnings  the  value  of  the  time,  sure, 
sooner  or  later,  to  be  lost  as  a consequence  of  the  dissipation 
and  deterioration  which  the  poison  will  inevitably  produce, 
and  then  consider  the  years  of  helpless  age  in  the  future,  as 
well  as  of  sickness  and  accident  in  the  family  during  the  }'ears 
of  active  life,  you  can  imagine  something  of  the  havoc  which 
any  deleterious  and  expensive  habit  will  work  in  the  wage 
laborer’s  life. 

B}r  the  census  of  1880,  34.68  percent,  of  the  entire  pop- 
ulation are  classed  under  the  "gainful”  occupations,  viz.: 
Agriculture,  professional  and  personal  services,  trade  and 
transportation,  manufacturing,  mechanical  and  mining  indus- 
tries— or  a total  of  17,392,099  persons  who  are  supposed  to 
be  productive!}'  emploj'ed  ; so  that  those  engaged  in  manufac- 
turing industries  in  1880  were  a little  less  than  one  sixth  of  the 
entire  population  engaged  in  gainful  occupations.  If,  as 
we  calculated  above,  the  former  now  expend  $104,274,916 
yearl}r  for  alcoholic  beverages,  the  entire  amount  now  ex- 
pended b}r  all  engaged  in  gainful  occupations  would  be 
obtained  l\y  multiplying  that  sum  b}'  6^-,  making  $760,407,801. 
Dr.  Hargreave’s  annual  average  was  $S86,S82,662  for  the 
whole  population  from  1881  to  1886  inclusive. 

As  the  luxurious  and  spendthrift  and  dependent,  defective, 
criminal,  non-producing  classes  are  not  included  in  our  calcu- 
lation, there  would  remain  $125,374,861  to  be  consumed  by 
them  for  intoxicating  beverages,  which  is  probabl}'  below  the 
real  amount.  I consider  this  a remarkable  confirmation  of 
the  probable  correctness  of  the  estimate  of  ten  per  cent,  of 
the  earnings  of  the  productive  classes  being  now  expended 
directly  for  intoxicating  drinks  ; and  even  the  estimates  of 


MR.  POWDERLY’s  LETTER. 


183 


Mr.  Atkinson  and  Mr.  Barrett  reduce  the  result  in  but  a 
slight  degree. 

The  eloquent  and  impassioned  words  of  Mr.  Powderly, 
Master  A orkman  of  the  Knights  ot  Labor,  upon  the  subject 
of  this  chapter  are  before  me.  "Faithful  are  the  wounds  of  a 
friend.”  They  save  life  and  heal  without  a scar. 

This  letter  deserves  immortality,  and  I will  do  what  I can 
to  extend  its  influence.  If  the  rich  drone  spends  his  money 
for  that  which  is  naught,  and  his  labor  for  that  which  satisfieth 
not,  he  is  wasting  substance  which  is  not  required  by  those 
dependent  upon  him,  and  by  his  dissipation  is  destroying  a 
useless  life.  But  the  demon  who  robs  the  American  laborer 
of  his  time,  money,  health  and  life  starves  and  kills  broken- 
hearted women  and  innocent  little  ones,  unless,  perchance,  still 
more  unfortunate,  they  survive  to  suffer  the  prolonged  miseries 
of  the  drunkard’s  home  and  an  inheritance  of  disgrace.  And 
the  worker  is  the  nation.  Preserve  him  and  the  nation  is 
perpetual. 

If  wrong,  we  must  advise  him — admonish  him — if  need  be, 
offend  him — at  all  hazards  we  must  save  him,  or  rather  he 
must  save  himself.  The  law  has  no  exceptions ; all  who  are 
saved  work  out  their  own  salvation. 

In  the  Journal  of  United  Labor , July  2,  1887,  Mr. 
Powderly  says  : 

Among  the  letters  that  came  to  me  to-day  I find  one  from  an  old 
friend,  who  takes  me  to  task  for  my  words  on  the  temperance  question, 
spoken  some  ten  or  twelve  days  ago  in  Boston  and  Lynn.  He  says : 

“ In  the  main  you  are  right,  even  the  rum-seller  himself  will  not 
deny  the  justice  of  your  position,  but  remember  that  in  the  very  organ- 
ization of  which  you  are  the  head  there  are  many  good  men  who  drink  ; 
there  are  thousands  who  will  not  agree  with  you,  and  after  all  why  do 
3rou  so  bitterly  arraign  the  poor  drunkard?  It  is  not  required  of  you 
by  the  Constitution  or  laws  of  the  Knights  of  Labor.  You  could  well 
afford  to  remain  silent  or  at  least  neutral,  preferring  to  teach  rather 

by  example  than  precept,  etc I very  much  fear  that  you  will 

be  misunderstood,  etc.” 

My  friend  makes  the  candid  admission,  in  starting  out,  that  in  the 
main  I am  right,  that  even  the  rum-seller  will  not  deny  the  justice  of 
my  position.  Having  said  as  much  he  should  have  stopped — even  then 
he  told  me  nothing  new.  I know  that  I am  right ; I know  that  in 
refusing  to  even  touch  a drop  of  strong  drink  I was,  and  am,  right. 


184 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


In  refusing  to  treat  another  to  that  which  I do  not  believe  to  be  good 
for  myself  to  drink,  I know  I am  right.  In  refusing  to  associate  with 
men  who  get  drunk,  I know  I am  right.  In  not  allowing  a rum-seller 
to  gain  admittance  into  the  Order  of  the  Knights  of  Labor,  I know  I 
am  right.  In  advising  our  Assemblies  not  to  rent  halls  or  meeting 
rooms  over  drinking  places,  I know  I am  right.  I have  done  this 
from  the  day  my  voice  was  first  heard  in  the  council  halls  of  our  Order. 
My  position  on  the  question  of  temperance  is  right — I am  determined 
to  maintain  it,  and  will  not  alter  it  one  jot  or  tittle.  If,  “ in  the  main  ” 
I am  right,  why  should  I alter  my  course?  If  the  man  who  sells 
liquor  will  “not  deny  the  justice  ” of  my  position,  why  should  I devi- 
ate to  the  right  or  left?  If  he  will  not  deny,  why  should  he  not  admit 
that  I am  right?  I know  that  in  the  organization  of  which  I am  the 
head  there  are  many  good  men  •who  drink,  but  they  would  be  better 
men  if  they  did  not  drink.  I know  that  there  are  thousands  in  our 
Order  who  will  not  agree  with  me  on  the  question  of  temperance,  but 
that  is  their  misfortune,  for  they  are  wrong,  radically  wrong. 

Ten  years  ago  I was  hissed  because  I advised  men  to  let  strong  drink 
alone.  They  threatened  to  rotten-egg  me.  I have  continued  to  advise 
men  to  be  temperate,  and  though  I have  had  no  experience  that  would 
qualify  me  to  render  an  opinion  on  the  efficacy  of  a rotten  egg  as  an 
ally  of  the  rum  drinker,  yet  I would  prefer  to  have  my  exterior  deco- 
rated from  summit  to  base  with  the  rankest  kind  of  rotten  eggs  rather 
than  allow  one  drop  of  liquid  villany  to  pass  my  lips,  or  have  the  end 
of  my  nose  illuminated  by  the  blossom  that  follows  a planting  of  the 
seeds  of  hatred,  envy,  malice  and  damnation,  all  of  which  are  repre- 
sented in  a solitary  glass  of  gin. 

Ten  years  ago  the  cause  of  temperance  was  not  so  respectable  as  it 
is  to-day,  because  there  was  not  so  many  respectable  men  and  women 
advocating  it.  It  has  gained  ground ; it  is  gaining  ground,  and  all 
because  men  and  women  who  believe  in  it  could  not  be  brow-beaten  or 
frightened.  Neither  the  hissing  of  geese  nor  serpents  nor  the  throwing 
of  rotten  eggs  has  stopped  or  even  delayed  the  march  of  temperance 
among  the  workers. 

“Why  do  I so  bitterly  arraign  the  poor  drunkard?”  For  the 
reason  that  he  is  a drunkard,  and  because  he  has  made  himself  poor 
through  his  love  of  drink.  Did  I,  or  any  other  man,  rob  him  of  the 
money  he  has  squandered  in  drink  ? Did  I make  him  poor  ? The  vilest 
names  that  tongue  can  frame  would  he  apply  to  me.  Must  I stand 
idly  by  and  remain  silent  while  he  robs  himself  ? Did  he  rob  only  him- 
self it  would  not  make  so  much  difference.  He  robs  parents,  wife  and 
children.  He  robs  his  aged  father  and  mother  through  love  of  drink. 
He  gives  for  rum  what  should  go  for  their  support.  When  they  mur- 
mur he  turns  them  from  his  door,  and  points  his  contaminated  drunken 


MR.  POWDERLY’S  LETTER. 


185 


finger  toward  the  poor-house.  He  next  turns  toward  his  wife  and  robs 
her  of  what  should  he  devoted  to  the  keeping  of  her  home  in  comfort 
and  plenty.  He  robs  her  of  her  wedding  ring  and  pawns  it  for  drink. 
He  turns  his  daughter  from  his  door  in  a fit  of  drunken  anger  and 
drives  her  to  the  house  of  prostitution,  and  then  accepts  from  her  hand 
the  proceeds  of  her  shame.  To  satisfy  his  love  of  drink  he  takes  the 
price  of  his  child’s  virtue  and  innocence  from  her  sin-stained,  lust- 
bejeweled  fingers,  and  with  it  totters  to  the  bar  to  pay  it  to  the  man 
who  “ does  not  deny  the  justice  of  my  position.”  I do  not  arraign  the 
man  who  drinks  because  he  is  poor,  but  because  through  being  a slave 
to  drink  he  has  made  himself  and  family  poor.  1 do  not  hate  the 
man  who  drinks,  for  I have  carried  drunken  men  to  their  homes  on 
my  back  rather  than  allow  them  to  remain  exposed  to  inclement 
weather.  I do  not  hate  the  drunkard — he  is  what  drink  has  effected ; 
and  while  I do  not  hate  the  effect  I abhor  and  loathe  the  cause. 

Take  the  list  of  labor  societies  of  America,  and  the  total  sum  paid 
into  their  treasuries  from  all  sources  from  their  organization  to  the 
present.time  will  not  exceed  $5,000,000.  The  Knights  of  Labor  is 
the  largest  and  most  influential  of  them  all ; and  though  so  much  has 
been  said  concerning  the  vast  amount  of  money  that  has  been  collected 
from  the  members,  yet  the  total  sum  levied  and  collected  for  all 
purposes — per  capita  tax,  Journal , assistance  fund,  appeals,  assess- 
ment, insurance  and  co-operation — up  to  the  present  time  will  not  ex- 
ceed $800,000. 

The  total  sum  collected  for  the  first  nine  years  of  the  existence  of 
the  General  Assembly  was  but  $500,725.14.  In  nine  years  less  than 
$600,000  were  collected  to  uplift  humanity  to  a higher  plane,  and  to 
bring  the  workers  to  a realizing  sense  of  their  actual  condition  in  life. 
It  took  less  than  $600,000  to  teach  the  civilized  world  that  working- 
men could  build  up  an  organization  that  could  shed  such  light  upon 
the  doings  of  landlords,  bondlords,  monopolists  and  other  trespassers 
on  the  domain  of  popular  rights  that  they  were  forced  to  halt  for  a time 
and  stand  up  to  explain.  Less  than  $600,000  (not  a dollar  unac- 
counted for) , and  on  the  statute  books  of  the  nation  will  you  find  the 
impress  of  the  workman’s  hand.  On  the  law  book  of  every  state  can 
be  traced  the  doing  of  labor’s  representatives.  Less  than  $600,000  to 
turn  the  batteries  of  greed  and  avarice  against  the  Order  of  the  Knights 
of  Labor.  Less  than  $600,000  to  create  a revolution  greater,  further 
reaching  in  its  consequences  and  more  lasting  in  its  benefits,  than  the 
revolution  which  caused  the  streets  of  the  towns  and  cities  of  France  to 
run  red  with  human  blood  less  than  a century  ago.  Less  than  $600,000 
to  make  men  feel  and  believe  that  woman’s  work  should  equal  that  of  the 
man.  Less  than  $600,000  to  educate  men  and  women  to  believe  that 
“moral  worth  and  not  wealth  is  the  true  standard  of  individual  and 


186 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


national  greatness.”  Less  than  $600,000  to  cause  every  newspaper  in  the 
land  to  speak  of  the  work  being  done  by  the  Knights  of  Labor — some  of 
them  speaking  in  abusive  terms,  others  speaking  words  of  praise, 
according  to  the  interests  represented  by  the  papers  or  according  as  the 
work  done  harmonized  with  the  principles  of  the  Order.  For  paying 
less  than  $600,000  the  members  of  the  Knights  of  Labor  have  been 
told  that  they  were  being  robbed.  In  one  day  an  employer’s  associa- 
tion organizes  and  pledges  itself  to  contribute  $5,000,000  to  fight  labor. 
The  next  day  the  papers  are  almost  silent  on  that  point,  but  are  filled 
to  the  brim  with  lurid  accounts  of  the  reckless  autocratic  manner  in 
which  the  officers  of  the  Knights  of  Labor  levy  a twenty-five-cent 
assessment  to  keep  over  100,000  locked-out  men  and  women  from 
starvation.  Patting  two  and  two  together,  it  is  not  hard  to  guess  why 
papers  that  applauded  the  action  of  the  employers  in  one  column 
should  in  another  column  advise  the  workers  not  to  pay  the  twenty-five- 
cent  assessment ; — $600,000  for  sober  men  to  use  in  education  and  self- 
improvement. 

Now  let  us  turn  to  the  other  side.  In  the  city  of  New  York  alone 
it  is  estimated  that  not  less  than  $250,000  a day  are  spent  for  drink. 
$1,500,000  in  one  week  ; $75,000,000  in  one  year.  Who  will  dispute 
it  when  I say  that  one  half  of  the  policemen  of  New  York  city  are 
employed  to  watch  the  beings  who  squander  $75,000,000  a year?  Who 
will  dispute  it  when  I say  that  the  money  spent  in  paying  the  salaries 
and  expenses  of  one  half  of  the  police  of  New  York  could  be  saved  to 
the  taxpayers  if  $75,000,000  were  not  devoted  to  making  drunkards, 
thieves,  prostitutes  and  other  subjects  for  the  policemen’s  net  to  gather 
in?  If  $250,000  go  over  the  counters  of  the  rum-seller  in  one  day  in 
New  York  city  alone,  who  will  dare  to  assert  that  workingmen  do  not 
pay  one  fifth,  or  $50,000,  of  that  sum?  If  workingmen  in  New  York 
city  spend  $50,000  a day  for  drink,  they  spend  $300,000  a week, 
leaving  Sunday  out.  In  four  weeks  they  spend  $1,200,000 — over 
twice  as  much  money  as  was  paid  into  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Knights  of  Labor  in  nine  years.  In  six  weeks  they  spend  $1,800,000 
— nearly  three  times  as  much  money  as  that  army  of  organized  workers, 
the  Knights  of  Kabor,  have  spent  from  the  day  the  General  Assembly 
was  first  called  to  order  up  to  the  present  day ; and  in  one  year  the 
workingmen  of  New  York  city  alone  will  have  spent  for  beer  and  rum 
$15,600,000  or  enough  to  purchase  and  equip  a first-class  telegraph 
line  of  their  own: — $15,600,000 — enough  money  to  invest  in  such 
co-operative  enterprises  as  would  forever  end  the  strike  and  lock-out 
as  a means  of  settling  disputes  in  labor  circles. 

A single  county  in  Pennsylvania,  so  I am  informed,  spent  in  one 
year  $17,000,000  for  drink.  That  county  contains  the  largest  indus- 
trial population,  comparatively,  of  any  in  the  state: — $11,000,000  of 


MR.  POAYDERLY’s  LETTER. 


187 


the  $17,000,000  come  from  the  pockets  of  workingmen.  New  York 
city,  in  one  year,  contributes  $15,600,000  to  keep  men  and  women  in 
poverty,  hunger  and  cold,  while  one  county  in  Pennsylvania  adds 
$11,000,000,  making  a total  of  $26,600,000.  Twenty-six  million  six 
hundred  thousand  dollars  ! I have  a conundrum  to  ask  of  you.  Mr. 
Purdy  : If  the  General  Officers  of  the  Knights  of  Labor  are  thieves  be- 
cause they  levy  an  assessment  which  brings  in  less  than  a dollar  apiece 
for  each  man,  woman  and  child  who  needs  it,  what  would  you  call  the 
men  who  collect  as  a voluntary  gift  from  foolish  workingmen  the  sum 
of  $26,600,000  in  one  year? 

The  press,  and  not  a few  indignant  workingmen,  raved  because  the 
twenty-five-cent  assessment  was  levied ; but  both  press  and  indig- 
nant workingmen  remained  silent  while  that  damnable  robbery  of 
$26,600,000  was  going  on.  Who  arraigns  the  poor  drunkard  now? 
Does  he  not  arraign  himself  before  the  bar  of  condemnation  every  time 
he  ranges  himself  before  the  bar  in  a rum  hole  ? 

The  Richmond  session  of  the  General  Assembly  voted  $50,000  to 
purchase  headquarters  for  the  Order; — $45,000  went  to  buy  the  build- 
ing on  Broad  street,  Philadelphia.  For  complying  with  the  order  of 
the  General  Assembly  the  General  Officers  have  been  abused  and  slan- 
dered most  villainously,  principally  by  men  who  never  contributed  a 
cent  toward  the  purchase  of  the  building.  The  enemies  of  the  Order, 
or  of  the  Officers  of  the  Order,  have  styled  the  headquarters  ‘k  The 
Palace.”  On  another  street  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia  there  is  a saloon 
called  “ The  Palace.”  I inquired  of  the  proprietor  what  it  cost  him 
and  he  said  $20,000.  Nine  years  ago  he  began  business,  selling  rum, 
on  a capital  of  $73,  and  in  that  time  he  has  acquired  the  money  with 
which  to  purchase  the  building  and  the  lot  on  which  it  stands.  He 
also  owns  $50,000  in  railroad  securities — all  on  an  original  cash  capi- 
tal of  $73.  His  patrons  are  chiefly  workingmen.  Why  do  we  not 
hear  a protest  go  up  against  the  means  by  which  that  palace  was 
erected  ? 

“ It  is  not  required  of  you  by  the  Constitution  or  laws  of  the  Knights 
of  Labor.”  I know  it.  Neither  is  it  stated  in  the  Constitution  of  the 
Order  that  I shall  not  stand  on  the  public  highway  and  rob  the  passer-by, 
yet  I know  that  I should  not  do  such  a thing.  If  I saw  a man  about 
to  hang  himself,  the  Constitution  does  not  specify  that  I should  cut  the 
rope. 

“ You  could  well  afford  to  remain  silent  or  at  least  neutral,  prefer- 
ing  to  teach  by  example  rather  than  precept.”  If  I cared  more  for  the 
praise  and  approbation  of  labor’s  enemies  than  I do  for  the  interest  of 
labor  I would  remain  silent.  The  man  who  remains  neutral  while  his 
friend  is  in  the  grasp  of  the  enemy,  or  while  his  friend  is  in  danger,  is 
a coward  at  heart  and  does  not  deserve  the  name  of  man  or  friend. 


188 


the  temperance  movement. 


Remain  silent  and  neutral  while  the  house  is  on  fire  and  you  have 
nothing  left  but  blackened,  defaced  walls  and — ashes. 

Teach  by  example?  I cannot  in  so  large  a country  as  this.  If  my 
example  is  good,  then  my  words  should  proclaim  it  to  the  world.  I 
am  no  better  than  other  men,  but  the  virtue  of  temperance  is  good, 
even  in  a bad  man,  and  that  is  what  I wish  to  hold  up  before  our  mem- 
bers and  workingmen  outside  of  our  Order. 

“ I very  much  fear  that  you  will  be  misunderstood.”  Do  not  fear ; 
I will  not  be  misunderstood  when  this  letter  is  read.  I am  not  a 
fanatic.  I do  not  damn  the  man  who  sells  liquor.  I have  nothing 
against  him.  Many  men  who  now  sell  liquor  were  once  workingmen 
and  were  victimized  through  a strike  or  lock-out.  I would  not  injure 
a hair  of  their  heads,  but  I would  so  educate  workingmen  that  they 
would  never  enter  a saloon.  Then  the  money  saved  from  rum  aDd 
rum  holes  would  go  to  purchase  necessaries,  and  such  an  increased 
stimulus  would  be  given  to  trade  that  the  rum-seller  could  return  to  an 
honest  way  of  making  a living. 

I may  be  taken  to  task  for  being  severe  on  the  workingmen.  It 
may  be  said  that  I slander  them  even.  If  to  tell  the  truth  is  to  be 
severe,  then  on  this  one  question  I hope  some  day  to  be  severity  itself; 
but  I speak  to  workingmen  because  it  is  in  their  welfare  that  I am 
interested.  I have  not  been  delegated  to  watch  or  guard  the  fortunes 
of  millionaires,  and  in  no  way  can  I hope  to  accomplish  anything  until 
I state  my  policy  freely  and  frankly  to  those  I represent.  We  are 
seeking  to  reform  existing  evils.  We  must  first  reform  ourselves. 

Some  mischievous  urchins  once  found  a man  sleeping  by  the  road- 
side. They  procured  some  soot  and  blackened  his  face.  When  he 
awoke  and  went  into  the  crowded  street  every  man  he  met  laughed  at 
him.  He  did  not  learn  the  cause  of  the  merriment  until  a friend  held 
a mirror  up  before  him.  He  became  very  mad,  and  for  a time  felt 
angry  toward  the  man  who  held  the  mirror  ; but  he  soon  came  to  his 
senses,  laid  the  blame  where  it  properly  belonged,  and  thanked  the  man 
who  showed  him  vrhy  others  ridiculed  him.  I am  holding  the  mirror 
up  to  human  nature.  True,  it  exposes  folly  and  vice.  I may  and  do 
receive  condemnation,  but  if  I can  only  show  the  men  I speak  to  who 
it  is  that  is  blackening  their  faces,  characters  and  hearts  ; if  I can  only 
show  them  how  to  remove  the  stains  and  become  sober  men  again,  I 
will  be  content  to  put  up  with  their  anger,  for  I know  that  they  will 
one  day  thank  me  or  bless  my  memory  for  the  words  I have  spoken 
and  written  in  the  cause  of  temperance-. 

T.  Y.  POWDERLY. 

I will  cite  the  testimony  of  one  professional  witness  given 
before  the  Senate  Committee  in  reply  to  ni}’  questions,  discuss- 


STATEMENTS  OF  DR.  STOW. 


189 


ing  very  intelligently  the  causes  of  poverty.  The  strong  and 
evident  sympathy  of  the  witness  with  people  who  are  manual 
laborers  gives  to  this  testimony  peculiar  importance.  It  was 
taken  by  the  committee  at  the  request  of  honorable  Robert 
Howard,  and  I ask  attention  to  it  as  containing  much  food  for 
thought,  and,  as  it  seems  to  me,  also  ground  for  action.  Fall 
River  is,  as  is  well  known,  one  of  the  chief  manufacturing 
cities  of  the  country,  and  the  statements  of  Dr.  Stow,  must 
be  taken  to  be  the  general  result  where  like  conditions  pre- 
vail : 


Boston,  Mass.,  October  18,  1883. 

Dr.  Timothy  D.  Stow  examined  by  the  Chairman  : 

Question. — You  are  a physician? 

Answer. — Yes. 

Q. — You  live  at  Fall  River? 

A.— Yes. 

Q.- — Won’t  you  state  how  you  happen  to  appear  before  the  com- 
mittee, what  your  object  is  in  coming  here,  and  at  whose  request  you 
come,  and  then  give  us  the  benefit  of  any  observations  you  choose  to 
lay  before  us  ? 

A. — Mr.  Robert  Howard,  of  our  city,  called  on  me  yesterday,  and 
desired  me  to  appear  here  to-day  before  your  committee  to  give  what- 
ever testimony  I could,  relating  particularly  to  the  physical  and 
mental,  and  perhaps  the  moral,  condition  of  the  operatives  and  labor- 
ing classes  of  Fall  River.  I have  made  no  notes,  and  I hardly  know 
what  your  plan  is  ; but  I would  as  soon  answer  questions  as  to  make 
any  detailed  statement. 

Tiie  Chairman. — We  want  to  find  out  how  the  working  people  of 
Fall  River  are  living  and  doing ; you  can  tell  us  that  in  the  way  in 
which  one  gentleman  would  talk  to  another,  the  one  understanding  the 
subject  and  the  other  not  understanding  it.  Just  tell  us  the  condition 
of  the  operatives  there  in  your  own  way,  bearing  in  mind  that  we 
would  rather  have  it  without  premeditation  than  as  a prepared  state- 
ment. 

The  Witness. — I have  been  in  Fall  River  about  eleven  years, 
though  I have  been  one  year  absent  during  that  time.  As  a physician 
and  surgeon,  of  course,  I have  been  brought  into  close  contact  with  all 
classes  of  people  there,  particularly  the  laboring  classes,  the  operatives 
of  the  city. 

With  regard  to  the  effect  of  the  present  industrial  system  upon  their 
physical  and  moral  welfare,  I should  say  it  was  of  such  a character 
as  to  need  mending,  to  say  the  least.  It  needs  some  radical  remedy. 


190 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


Our  laboring  population  is  made  up  very  largely  of  foreigners,  men, 
women  and  children,  who  have  either  voluntarily  come  to  Fall  Fiver, 
or  who  have  been  induced  to  come  there  by  the  manufacturers.  As  a 
class  they  are  dwarfed  physically.  Of  course,  there  are  exceptions  to 
that ; some  notable  ones.  On  looking  over  their  condition  and  weigh- 
ing it  as  carefully  as  I have  been  able  to,  I have  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  character  and  quality  ot  the  labor  which  they  have  been  doing 
in  times  past,  and  most  of  them  from  childhood  up,  has  been,  and  is, 
such  as  to  bring  this  condition  upon  them  slowly  and  steadily.  They 
are  dwarfed,  in  my  estimation,  sir,  as  the  majority  of  men  and  women 
who  are  brought  up  in  factories  must  be  dwarfed  under  the  present 
industrial  system  ; because  by  their  long  hours  of  in-door  labor  and 
their  hard  work  they  are  cut  off  from  the  benefit  of  breathing  fresh  air, 
and  from  the  sights  that  surround  a workman  outside  a mill. 
Being  shut  up  all  day  long  in  the  noise  and  in  the  high  temperature  of 
these  mills,  they  become  physically  weak.  Then  most  of  them  are 
obliged  to  live  from  hand  to  mouth,  or,  at  least,  they  do  not  have 
sufficient  food  to  nourish  them  as  they  need  to  be  nourished.  These 
things,  together  with  the  fact  that  they  have  to  limit  their  clothing 
supply — this  constant  strain  upon  the  operative — all  tend  to  make  him 
upon  the  one  hand  uneasy  and  restless,  or  on  the  other  hand  to 
produce  discouragement  and  recklessness.  They  make  him  careless  in 
regard  to  his  own  condition.  All  these  things  combined  tend  to 
produce  what  we  have  in  Fall  River. 

Now,  first,  as  to  the  moral  condition  of  the  operatives  of  Fall  River, 
I think  so  far  as  crime  is  concerned  we  have  quite  as  little  crime  there 
as  in  any  city  of  its  size.  We  have  a population  rising  on  50,000. 
There  is  a disposition  at  times,  and  under  certain  pressure,  for  some 
operatives  to  violate  the  law,  to  pilfer,  or  something  of  that  kind,  and 
I think  it  grows  out  of  not  what  is  called  “ pure  cussedness,”  but  a 
desire  to  relieve  some  physical  want.  For  instance,  a man  wants  a 
coat  and  has  not  the  means  of  earning  it,  and  he  is  out  of  employment 
and  being  pinched  with  the  cold  and  Avith  no  prospects  of  getting 
employment,  or  of  getting  a coat  by  honest  means,  he  steals  one.  Or 
perhaps  he  steals  food  on  the  same  principle. 

But,  so  far  as  crime  is  concerned,  we  have  comparatively  little. 
But  what  I do  say,  and  Avhat  has  been  on  my  mind  eA-er  since  I came 
to  Fall  River,  Avith  reference  to  operatives  there,  is  the  peculiar  impress 
they  seem  to  bear,  a sort  of  dejected,  tired,  Avorn-out,  discouraged 
appearance,  groAving  out  of  bad  influence  of  long  hours  of  labor,  the 
close  confinement  of  the  mills,  the  din  of  the  machinery,  their 
exclusion  from  social  intercourse,  except  at  night. 

And  I think  Ave  can  look  for  a solution  of  the  problem  AAdiieh  the 
country  at  large  is  endeavoring  to  solve — that  Avith  reference  to  the 


Miss  Anna  Gordon , 

Associated  with  Miss  Willard. 


i d-X;  , 


WHY  THEY  DRINK. 


191 


intemperate  habits  of  the  laboring  classes  and  the  operatives — in  those 
facts  that  I have  mentioned.  I have  questioned  many  thoughtful  men 
and  women  in  regard  to  that.  I have  said  : “ Why  is  it  that  at  night 
particularly  you  frequent  the  dram  shops  ? Why  is  it  that  by  day  you 
drink  ; that  you  store  enough  even  for  the  day  in  vour  houses?”  The 
answer  is  : “ Well,  doctor,  I tell  you  the  fact  is  this  : there  is  a sense 
of  fatigue  over  us  which  we  do  not  know  how  to  overcome,  and 
which  we  must  overcome  for  the  time  being,  if  we  are  to  have  any  of 
the  social  qualities  of  an  evening,  and  we  can’t  do  it  without  taking 
something  which  will  bridge  over  the  time  and  make  us  equal  to 
the  emergency  of  the  evening  or  the  occasion.”  For  instance,  the 
operative  being  in  the  mill  all  day  long  comes  out  at  night,  and  it  is 
the  only  time  he  has,  unless  he  uses  Sunday — and  he  uses  that  largely 
— in  which  to  visit  his  friends,  who  are  scattered  here  and  there  all 
over  the  city.  Families  are,  of  course,  scattered  in  that  way.  They 
are  either  brought  over  here  by  the  manufacturer,  or  come  of  their 
own  accord.  One  person  finds  a place  in  one  mill,  and  another  in 
another  mill.  They  have  no  means  of  communication  with  each  other 
except  at  night,  or  on  a Sunday.  Now  they  say  to  themselves,  “ How 
can  we  fit  ourselves  for  this  social  intercourse — what  we  deem  a 
necessity?  ” The  result  is  that  a man  steps  into  a lager  beer  saloon, 
or  often  into  a place  where  he  gets  stronger  liquor,  and  he  takes  a glass 
of  it,  and  in  a few  minutes  he  begins  to  feel  the  stimulating  influence 
of  the  liquor,  and  it  braces  him  up.  But  I have  said:  “How  does 
this  make  you  feel?  You  say  you  have  been  feeling  fatigued  in  the 
evening  and  discouraged  ; that  your  future  does  not  look  bright ; how 
do  you  feel  when  you  get  the  liquor?”  “Why,”  he  will  say, 
“ it  covers  that  all  up;  we  lose  all  thought  of  that,  and  for  the  time 
being  we  feel  well.”  And  so  they  go  on  from  day  to  day,  and  from 
night  to  night. 

Now,  after  all,  I do  not  know  of  many  drunkards  in  Fall  River,  but 
this  is  true  : the  operative  spends  his  five,  ten,  fifteen  or  twenty-five 
cents  a night  for  liquor,  and  it  is  so  much  money  lost  to  him,  and  yet 
he  feels  impelled  to  it,  because  he  does  not  know  how  otherwise  to 
adapt  himself  to  the  circumstances  of  the  evening.  It  does  not  seem 
to  affect  his  constitution,  and  most  of  them  keep  up  pretty  well,  but 
some  succumb  to  it.  Others  who  cannot  succumb  to  the  influences  of 
lager  beer  often  resort  to  stronger  liquors,  such  as  brandy,  whisky 
and  so  on,  to  stimulate  them  more,  because  they  require  more  and 
more  to  keep  up  the  effect.  Those  go  down  to  the  drunkard’s  grave. 

I should  say  that  the  average  man  there  who  reaches  that  condition 
gets  to  be  a pauper  at  thirty-five  or  forty.  The  women,  particularly 
the  English  women,  brew  their  own  beer  to  some  extent,  but  they  buy 
largely  of  the  stores,  and  keep  beer  in  their  houses  for  the  day.  It  is 


192 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


a common  thing  for  these  bar-keepers  to  peddle  around  beer  and  ale, 
to  leave  from  half  a dozen  to  a dozen  of  ale  a week  at  a house. 
Almost  every  Saturday  some  families  will  put  in  from  a dozen  to  two 
dozen  bottles  of  ale. 

Now,  it  is  invariably  the  testimony  of  the  more  intelligent  men  and 
women  in  answer  to  the  question,  “ Why  do  you  persist  in  drinking?  ” 
“ It  makes  us  feel  better  ; w*3  are  relieved  of  the  ennui  of  life  ; we  are 
relieved  of  mental  depression  for  the  time  being,  and  after  tbe  even- 
ing’s social  engagements  are  over  we  get  home  and  go  to  bed,  and 
think  nothing  of  it,  and  next  day  resume  our  day’s  work.”  And  so 
it  goes  on  from  day  to  day. 

In  considering  this  testimony  in  connection  with  that  of 
Mr.  Crosby  and  other  facts  now  before  us,  one  is  reminded  of 
Agar’s  prayer  : "Give  me  neither  poverty  nor  riches.”  Both 
are  causes  of  intemperance,  and  intemperance  being  a waste  of 
health  and  strength  must  cause  poverty — for  what  is  poverty  ? 
It  is  the  absence  of  health,  strength,  and  the  ordinary  com- 
forts of  life.  Intemperance  takes  all  these  away — and  it 
increases  poverty  already  existing.  Poverty  does  not  create 
intemperance  by  any  direct  act.  Intemperance  is  the  direct 
act. 

Poverty  creates  by  distress  an  abnormal  state  of  mind  and 
body,  and  in  that  condition  the  act  of  intemperance  takes 
place.  It  is  always  the  act  with  which  we  deal,  and  that  is 
Avhere  we  stop  in  the  enforcement  of  responsibility — poverty 
and  wealth  are  both  indirect  causes  of  intemperance  as  they 
are  of  theft  and  of  waste — and  behind  these  conditions  are 
still  deeper  causes — rooted  in  human  nature  and  our  surround- 
ings, which  it  is  the  struggle  of  evolution  to  remove  and  escape 
from — the  limitations  and  tendencies  and  influences  of  human 
nature,  and  of  all  nature,  in  the  past  and  in  the  present. 

Of  all  the  direct  acts  which  we  can  perform  or  avoid  for 
the  removal  of  poverty  or  of  the  acquisition  of  comfort,  com- 
petency and  wealth,  the  drinking  of  intoxicating  liquors  is  the 
worst,  and  for  it  we  are  responsible,  because  it  is  an  act  of 
volition. 

But  our  saving  will  only  help,  it  will  not  solve  the  labor 
problem.  Abolish  intoxication  and  there  will  be  more  dol- 
lars, but  even  then  the  sober  man  will  not  always  get  the 
-dollar.  The  problem  of  the  distribution  of  labor  as  well  as 


THE  GREAT  MOVEMENTS , ONE  GREAT  MOVEMENT.  193 


of  production  remains.  And  who  shall  protect  and  maintain 
the  unfortunate?  Alas,  my  brother! — Society  has  not  yet 
learned  its  duty — far  less  performed  it.  In  the  future — in 
the  good  time  coming — there  will  be  no  such  word  as  charity. 
When  charity  is  swallowed  up  in  duty,  then  shall  be  revealed 
the  glory  of  the  latter  days. 

Society  has  a perpetual  life.  The  knowledge  and  ex- 
perience of  the  ages  accumulate  and  proceed  with  the  suc- 
cessive generations.  In  this  larger  field  of  action — the  action 
of  society — there  is  a responsibility  for  wealth  and  poverty 
and  intemperance,  vice  and  crime,  which  cannot  be  escaped 
from,  and  as  members  of  the  perpetual  corporation  of 
humanity,  we  must  discover  and  remove  those  ultimate 
causes  of  human  suffering  w hich  come  from  poverty  of  the 
many  or  extravagance  of  the  luxurious  few.  To  secure  this, 
wealth,  the  means  of  supplying  proper  human  wants,  must 
be  created,  and  then  must  be  distributed  where  the  wants 
exist.  To  effect  this  creation  and  distribution  as  it  should  be 
done  is  the  great  unsolved  problem  of  " Labor,”  of  which  the 
Temperance  Reform  is  one  of  the  most  important  factors.  In 
a great  war,  first  one  battle  and  then  another  is  for  the  time 
being  the  most  important  thing  to  be  done.  The  Temperance 
Reform  is  one  of  these  great  battles.  We  must  win  our 
Bunker  Hill,  and  our  Saratoga,  or  we  shall  fail  at  York- 
town.  The  Labor  movement,  the  Temperance  Reform, 
Popular  Education,  Moral  and  Religious  instruction,  the  mak- 
ing and  the  administration  of  good  laws,  are  all  parts  of  one 
great  movement  and  are  indispensable  to  each  other.  It  is 
useless  to  quibble  and  make  wry  faces  like  children  on  the 
street,  and  say  each  to  the  other,  "I'm  the  biggest,”  and 
"You’re  a fool.”  The  progress  of  the  world  is  a battle — a 
great  game  in  which  we  play  with  the  team  and  interchang- 
ing; our  parts,  and,  so  far  as  God  gives  us  power,  in  all  ways 
for  the  good  of  all  mankind. 

Let  all  unite,  and  put  forth  the  utmost  effort  in  union  with 
others,  in  every  direction  of  helpful  efiort.  We  are  trying  to 
put  down  the  original  rebellion  of  the  fallen  angels  which  has 
broken  out,  and  has  raged  fearfully  in  this  old  world  of  ours, 
Lo  ! now  at  least  six  thousand  years. 

"Lend  a hand.” 

13 


CHAPTER  XI. 


ALCOHOL  DESTROYS  THE  WEALTH  OF  THE  WHOLE  PEOPLE. 


Things  Proved  and  Clear  in  Regard  to  the  Effects  of  Alcohol  — An  In- 
voice of  the  Stock  in  Trade  of  an  Industry  of  Destruction — The  Claim 
that  Temperance  Statistics  are  Inflated  and  Unreliable — The  Demand 
for  a Commission  of  Inquiry — Col.  Switzler’s  Work — The  Liquor  Pro- 
duction of  the  United  States — A table  Representing  a Gigantic  Business 
Transaction — Remarkable  Increase  in  the  Use  of  Malt  Liquors — Facts 
Furnished  by  the  Brewers’  Association — Letter  of  Louis  Sehade — Mr. 
Zimmerman’s  Figures — The  100,000  Annual  Victims — The  Figures  for 
1886 — The  Cost  of  Drink  per  Family — The  Annual  Loss  to  the  Nation 
— Demands  for  a Commission  of  Inquiry. 


7 E have  thus  far  confined  our  attention  chiefly  to  the 
/ investigation  of  the  nature  of  alcohol  and  its  effects 
within  the  human  system.  It  is  clear  from  the  light  of  ex- 
perience, observation,  science  and  history  that  alcohol  is  a 
destructive  poison  to  the  healthy  bod}' ; that  its  supposed 
benefit  as  a food  is  a fallacy ; that  as  a medicine  its  use  is 
seldom  or  never  necessary,  always  attended  with  danger, 
specially  liable  to  abuse  on  the  part  both  of  the  physician 
and  the  patient,  full  of  latent  and  fatal  fascination  to  the 
patient  as  yet  uncursed  by  its  love,  and  almost  sure  to  revive 
the  tyranny  of  old  appetite,  which  may  have  been  by  great 
effort  partially  suppressed,  but  which  can  seldom,  if  ever, 
be  wholly  eradicated  ; that  the  food  quality  in  the  least  nox- 
ious forms  known,  as  in  the  fermented  drinks,  is  so  small 
that  its  use  as  a nourishment  elevates  the  practice  of  extract- 
ing sunbeams  from  cucumbers  into  a comparatively  fruitful 
industry,  and  gives  dignity  to  the  occupation  of  those  who 
sup  on  the  east  wind  ; that  in  an  economical  view  the  million- 
aire would  be  ruined  in  the  vain  attempt  to  pay  his  board  bill 
if  he  were  to  live  upon  pabulum  of  this  description,  while 
it  would  be  a manifest  impossibility  for  the  physical  machin- 
ery to  manipulate  the  vast  mass  of  liquid  with  its  homoeo- 
pathic atoms  of  fodder,  so  that  the  digestive  powers  of  the 
giant  could  save  the  gnat  from  rapid  starvation ; that  there 

194 


STATISTICS  OF  DRINK. 


195 


is  no  form  of  horrid  or  fatal  disease  which  does  not  find  in 
its  use  either  its  origin  or  aggravation ; that  the  intellect 
disintegrates  and  perishes  under  its  baleful  influence ; that 
it  eats  out  the  moral  nature  as  with  a tooth  of  a hot  iron ; 
converts  its  victim  into  a criminal  or  an  imbecile  ; and  makes 
death  more  welcome  than  life  ; that  it  casts  forth  the  drunkard 
upon  society,  wrecked  body  and  soul,  damned  beforehand, 
and  already  a naturalized  citizen  of  the  infernal  world. 

This  we  have  seen  to  be  the  natural  and  almost  unavoidable 
result  of  the  habitual  and  prolonged  use  of  alcohol  by  the  in- 
dividual human  being.  But  it  remains  for  us  to  ascertain,  if 
possible,  and  to  sum  up  the  vast  account  of  crime  and 
misery — to  take  an  invoice,  as  it  were,  of  the  stock  in  trade 
of  this  great  industry  of  destruction  and  despair. 

This  is  no  easy  task ; to  it  have  been  given  great  volumes 
written  in  blood,  with  pens  of  power  on  pages  lighted  with 
unearthly  fire.  But  there  is  a magnitude  to  the  subject  which 
the  most  vivid  imagination  cannot  compass.  The  figures 
are  like  those  of  astronomy,  and  their  tremendous  impressive- 
ness cannot  be  increased  by  illustration.  To  one  who  com- 
prehends at  all  the  force  of  mathematical  notation — of  facts 
in  the  form  of  figures — nothing  can  be  so  vivid  and  overwhelm- 
ing as  the  contemplation  of  a truthful  and  moderate  statistical 
statement  of  the  extent  of  the  traffic  in  alcoholic  beverages,  in 
our  country  and  in  the  world. 

It  is  to  such  a statement,  with  no  more  of  explanation  and 
comparison  than  shall  be  necessary  to  assist  the  mind,  in  part, 
to  grasp  the  significance  of  calculations  and  tabulated*  matter, 
that  this  chapter  will  be  devoted.  It  has  long  been  claimed 
by  those  engaged  in  the  liquor  traffic  and  their  advocates  that 
"temperance  statistics”  are  inflated  and  unreliable.  It  is 
true  that  the  opponents  of  the  traffic  have  never  been  able  to 
secure  the  services  of  their  own  government  to  assist  in 
obtaining  the  whole  truth  ; but  this  has  been  prevented  by  the 
opposition  of  the  traffic  itself,  which  preferred  to  rest  under 
the  weight  of  what  was  already  proven,  and  asserted  with 
such  proof  that  it  was  apparent  to  all  that  official  investigation 
would  more  than  confirm  its  most  astounding  aggregates. 

For  six  Congresses,  twelve  years  in  succession,  have  the 
enemies  of  alcohol  called  upon  the  government  for  an  impar- 


196 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


tial  Commission  of  Inquiry  into  this  traffic.  Six  times  has 
the  American  Senate  passed  the  bill,  and  so  far  the  liquor  lobby 
has  strangled  the  bill — that  it  might  suppress  the  truth.  That 
truth  is  stranger  and  worse  than  the  wildest  fiction  to  be  found 
in  the  literature  of  the  advocates  of  the  Great  Reform — aud 
they  who  oppose  the  investigation  well  know  it. 

The  Bureau  of  Statistics,  under  its  very  able  chief,  who 
is  a broad  and  liberal  statesman,  as  well  as  eminent 
statistician,  has  given  us  the  most  recent  and  reliable  of  all 
official  data,  ever  collected  in  any  country,  of  the  extent 
of  the  liquor  trade.  This  invaluable  service  entitles  Col. 
Switzler  to  the  everlasting  gratitude  of  his  countrymen  living, 
and  of  the  generations  to  come.  Henceforth  we  have  a 
minimum  resting  upon  the  solid  basis  of  official  mathematics. 
Above  and  beyond  rises  the  structure  of  probability  and 
of  demonstration  from  other  impregnable  evidence — but 
there  is  need  of  nothing  more  than  these  records  to  convince 
every  honest  and  unprejudiced  mind  that  the  traffic  in 
alcoholic  beverages  must  go. 

The  table  on  page  197  exhibits  the  amount  of  production  of 
fermented  liquors  and  distilled  "spirits  in  the  United  States, 
together  with  the  quantity  of  distilled  spirits  withdrawn  for 
consumption  from  bond,  (where  it  is  placed  during  the  proc- 
ess of  evaporation  and  until  required  for  sale,  so  that  tax 
may  not  be  exacted  for  more  than  is  available  for  use),  from 
1863  to  1886,  inclusive.  "What  gigantic  business  transactions 
does  this  table  represent ! "What  misery,  crime  and  despair  ! 
Better  that  the  civil  war  had  raged  unchecked  during  the 
whole  period,  if  this  terrible  trade  could  have  been  destroyed 
along  with  the  institution  which  drenched  this  glorious  Union 
in  fraternal  blood. 

The  table  on  page  198  exhibits  the  annual  consumption  per 
capita  of  population  during  the  years  1810,  1850,  1860, 
and  from  1870  to  1886  inclusive.  These  per  capita  exhibits, 
which,  so  common  in  tabulation,  are  perhaps  the  best  to 
convey  an  idea  of  the  extent  of  the  traffic  as  compared  to  the 
whole  population,  but  they  also  convey  a false  idea  as  to  the 
actual  injury  inflicted  by  it.  The  most  of  the  burden  of  this 
whole  evil  is  in  the  first  instance  concentrated  upon  indi- 
vidual consumers,  and  their  immediate  dependents,  being 


PRODUCTION  OF  DISTILLED  SPIRITS,  EXCLUSIVE  OF  BRANDT  DISTILLED  FROM  FRUIT, 


PER  CAPITA  STATISTICS. 


197 


— Dlstliied" 

spirits 
other  than 
fruit 
brandy 
withdrawn 

piiiiisisslsiiiiis|gi§iif 

£3|S;23“3£§8S38SS3S3SgS\^i§ 

Total 

production 
of  distilled 
spirits. 

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Produc- 
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fruit 
brandy. 

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Ililli  IS 


Annual  Consumption  of  Distilled  and  Malt  Liquors  and  Wines  in  the  United  States  and  the  Average  Annual 
Consumption  per  Capita  of  Population  During  the  Years  1840,  1850,  18G0,  and  from  1870  to  1886,  Inclusive. 


198 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT, 


TOTAL  CONSUMPTION  I’Elt  CAPITA 
OF  POPULATION. 

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A.  M.  Powell. \ 

Editor  of  “ The  Temperance  Advocate." 


INCREASE  OF  MALT  LIQUORS. 


109 


not  more  than  perhaps  one  fourth  of  the  entire  people,  who 
thus  become  as  it  were  a pestilential  citizenship  within  the 
body  politic,  operating  upon  the  whole  nation  and  world 
us  the  poison  itself  does  upon  the  natural  body  of  the  indi- 
vidual. 

The  most  striking  fact  revealed  by  the  table  is  the  decrease 
in  the  percentage  of  per  capita  consumption  of  distilled 
Bpirits  during  the  last  half-century  on  the  one  hand  and 
the  increase  of  the  percentage  of  consumption  of  wines  and 
liquors  not  distilled  on  the  other.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  this  is  not  a decrease  of  the  amount  actually  consumed  by 
the  people.  On  the  contrary,  the  first  table  shows  that  the 
amount  of  distilled  liquors  produced  increased  from  16,000,000 
gallons  in  1863  to  81,000,000  in  1886,  and  the  amount 
actually  withdrawn  for  consumption  from  16,000,000  to 
69,000,000  gallons,  although  during  that  period  popula- 
tion has  only  doubled.  During  the  half-century  the  in- 
crease of  per  capita  consumption  of  malt  liquors  has  been 
more  than  eightfold,  while  population  itself  has  increased  less 
than  fourfold,  or  from  17,000,000  to  60,000,000. 

The  following  history  in  figures  of  the  malt  liquor  traffic 
in  the  United  States  and  in  each  state  and  territory  during  the 
last  thirteen  years,  and  of  its  development  during  the  last 
twelve  years,  is  very  perfect  and  equally  astounding.  It 
is  duly  authenticated  by  Hon.  Louis  Schade,  the  attorney  for 
many  years  of  the  liquor  traffic  at  Washington  and  editor  of 
the  Sentinel , published  in  that  city,  which  is  the  organ  of  the 
interest  he  represents.  Having  first  called  upon  him  in  his 
absence  and  then  written  to  him  for  information  touching  the 
traffic,  I have  to  thank  Mr.  Schade  for  this  and  other  courtesies, 
but  for  which  this  book  might  have  contained  fewer  facts 
and  therefore  have  been  less  damaging  to  his  clients.  Mr. 
Schade  did  me  the  honor  to  publish  my  letter  to  him  in  the 
Sentinel , and  I therefore  reciprocate  the  courtesy  so  far  as  I 
am  able,  by  giving  his  letter  such  currency  as  may  be,  in 
this  book.  It  shows  how  an  able  and  honest  gentleman  may 
be  conscientiously  engaged  in  a business  which  ruins  his  fellow- 
men.  One  thing  is  certain,  the  great  interest  he  represents 
could  not  employ  one  whose  personal  character  is  better  cal- 
culated to  confer  respectability  upon  a business  sadly  in  need 
of  that  service. 


200 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


If  there  were  not  so  many  respectable  and  able  men 
engaged  in  it,  and  if  society  itself  in  its  ignorance  and  appetite 
were  not  even  now  so  oblivious  of  the  extent  of  the  evil  which 
like  an  inherited  disease  interpenetrates  the  body  politic,  the 
task  of  its  removal  would  be  less  difficult.  I pity  them,  but  I 
never  denounce  the  men  who  are  engaged  in  the  liquor  traffic 
and  those  who  aid  and  abet  them  as  worse  than  the  community 
which  tolerates  their  business.  But  as  a member  of  society, 
with  no  pecuniary  interest  involved,  and  in  no  way  depend- 
ent upon  its  prosecution  for  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  hav- 
ing no  unsought  entanglements  with  the  trade,  if  I fail  to 
denounce  the  miserable  and  infernal  business  and  to  devote 
my  last  dollar  of  money  and  moment  of  time,  and  if  need  be 
drop  of  blood,  to  its  annihilation  from  the  face  of  the  whole 
earth,  then  I deserve  the  pity  of  no  one  and  the  everlasting 
execration,  not  of  man  alone,  but  of  God.  And  I s7tall  have 
my  reward. 

That  is  the  way  I feel  about  liquor  dealers,  the  liquor  trade 
and  those  of  us  who  are  in  favor  of  the  liquor  business  with- 
out an  excuse.  The  strength  of  the  liquor  trade  is  in  the 
countenance  it  receives  from  those  who  want  to  shai’e  in  the 
liquor  money  and  the  liqnor  vote.  How  unconscious  is  Mr. 
Schade  of  the  real  effect  of  business  in  which  he  is  engaged ! 
He  even  thinks  that  the  increase  of  the  malt  trade  is  in  the 
interests  of  " true  temperance.”  He  seems  to  think  that  we 
must  be  boozy  upon  beer  or  delirious  on  whisky.  The  alter- 
native of  total  abstinence  and  legal  prohibition  does  not  dawn 
upon  his  mind.  Both  Mr.  Schade  and  his  table  are  worthy  of 
profound  study. 

Washington,  D.  C.,  July  22,  1SS7. 

Dear  Sir  : — Your  desire  to  be  furnished  by  me  with  reliable 
statistics  in  regard  to  the  production  of  fermented  and  distilled 
liquors  I shall  try  to  fulfill  to  the  best  of  my  abilities. 

To-day  I send  you  a table  giving  you  the  production  of  fermented 
liquors  in  this  country  since  1875.  The  figures  are  compiled  from 
the  Internal  Revenue  Reports  and  reliable.  The  same  Internal 
Revenue  Reports  will  give  you  also  the  production  of  alcoholic 
spirits.  But  whilst  you  can  safely  assume  that  all  the  fermented 
liquors  are  consumed  as  beverages,  that  assumption  is  not  safe  in 
regard  to  alcoholic  liquors  manufactured,  and  hence  all  such 
statistics  are  mere  guess-work,  as  a great  deal  of  alcohol  is  being 


MR.  SCIIADE’S  LETTER. 


201 


used  for  mechanical  purposes.  Possibly  the  Revenue  Department 
might  give  you  a table  showing  the  amount  of  spirits  turned  into 
whisky  and  other  liquors  used  as  a beverage,  or  exported. 

JLhat  fermented  liquor  table  which  I inclose*  will  show  vou  how 
Maine  and  Vermont  have  gone  back  since  1875  on  true  temper- 
ance, by  stopping  the  brewing  business  and  forcing  their  people 
to  the  whisky  bottle.  Surely  that  cannot  be  the  aim  of  a true 
temperance  man. 

I regret  that  you  called  at  my  office  in  my  absence,  as  I would 
have  been  glad  to  meet  you.  I thank  you  also  for  the  friendly 
sentiments  you  are  kind  enough  to  express  in  your  letter  in  regard 
to  me. 

I have  written  to  the  U.  S.  Brewers’  Association  and  they  will 
forward  to  you  a number  of  documents.  You  will  also  observe 
that,  though  an  old  Democrat,  I do  not  excuse  the  prohibition  pro- 
clivities in  my  party,  on  the  contrary  censure  them  more  severely 
than  I have  done  heretofore  in  regard  to  those  I have  met  with  in 
the  Republican  party.  At  auv  rate  I shall  always  act  honestly  in 
this  important  issue.  I remain,  sir,  most  respectfully,  your  obedient 
servant,  Louis  Schade. 

Hon.  Henry  TV.  Blair, 

U.  S.  Senate,  Washington,  D.  C. 

If  we  should  assume  that  the  average  percentage  of  alcohol 
in  ale,  beer,  wine,  cider  and  all  fermented  liquors  consumed 
is  10  per  cent.,  which,  considering  the  processes  of  fortifica- 
tion carrying  some  of  them  as  high  as  25  per  cent,  even,  is,  I 
think,  none  too  high  an  estimate,  and  the  average  of  distilled 
spirits  as  containing  50  per  cent,  of  alcohol,  then  five  gallons 
of  the  former  would  be  the  equivalent  of  one  gallon  of  spirits. 
The  total  consumption  of  wines  and  liquors  (fermented)  for 
1886  was  737,296,554  gallons  or  145,459,311  gallons  of  dis- 
tilled spirits.  It  has  already  been  shown  that  the  alcohol 
performs  its  work  with  the  same  efficiency  according  to  its 
actual  quantity,  whether  mixed  with  much  or  little  water. 

Thus  we  have  as  the  consumption  of  alcohol  reduced  to  the 
form  of  distilled  spirits  in  the  United  States,  during  the  year 
1886,  217,720,925  gallons  or  an  average  per  capita  consump- 
tion of  the  people  of  the  United  States  in  1886  of  3.63  gallons. 
If  now  we  reduce  the  quantity  of  wines  and  fermented  drinks 
consumed  in  1840  to  distilled  liquor,  as  we  have  done  above 
for  the  consumption  of  1886,  and  divide  the  total  by  the  popu- 


*See  p.  202  for  table  here  referred  to. 


Sales  of  Malt  Liquors  in  the  XLnitcd  States,  for  Revenue  year  ended  May  7,  1887,  and  for  72  previous  years,  showing  the  increase  or  decrease  in  each  state 
for  year  ended  May  1,  1SS7,  over  year  ended  fray  7,  1880,  also  increase  iii  the  brew  of  the  United  States  since  the  year  1S7G.  Met  increase  1887  over  1886, 
2,171,316  bbls.  Met  increase  1887  over  1S76  ( twelve  years),  14,076,625  bids. 


202 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


Total 

decrease, 

twelve 

years. 

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HISTORY  IK  FIGURES. 


203 


lation  of  1840,  we  have  the  following  result  : 71,244,817 
divided  by  5,  equals  14,248,963  gallons,  which  added  to 
43,060,884  gallons  of  distilled  spirits  as  shown  by  the  table 
gives  a total  of  57,309,804  gallons  as  the  total  consump- 
tion of  alcohol  reduced  to  the  form  of  distilled  spirits 
in  the  year  1840,  or  3.20  gallons  per  capita,  an  increase 
since  1840  of  per  capita  intemperance  as  shown  by  the 
actual  consumption  of  alcohol  of  forty-three  hundreths,  or 
or  nearly  one  half  gallon  for  each  man,  woman  and  child  in 
the  country.  This  increase  is  more  than  10  per  cent,  of 
alcohol  actually  consumed  by  each  person  since  1840.  Of  all 
these  totals,  as  shown  in  note  to  the  table,  90  per  cent,  is  con- 
sumed in  the  form  of  beverages ; all  that  used  in  medicine, 
in  the  arts  and  scientific  processes,  etc.,  is  included  in  the 
other  tenth.  I do  not  think  these  calculations  can  be  success- 
fully assailed  by  those  who  claim  that  the  increase  in  the  con- 
sumption of  fermented  beverages  has  lessened  that  of  alcohol, 
however  it  may  have  changed  the  classification  of  drinks 
consumed,  from  one  column  to  another.  It  is  the  same  old 
devil  in  another  uniform,  or,  to  change  the  image,  the  same 
old  poison  sugar-coated,  that  it  may  sell  the  better,  and  so  the 
more  surely  in  the  end  kill  the  unwary. 

The  table  on  the  following  page  shows  the  kinds  of  distilled 
and  malt  liquors  and  wines  consumed  (not  the  amount  pro- 
duced) in  the  United  States  during  the  year,  ending  June 
30th,  1886. 

Here  we  have  the  various  arms  of  the  same  service.  I 
have  endeavored  above  to  indicate  their  aggregate  deadliness 
by  reducing  them  all  to  the  same  unit  of  action,  which  is  the 
alcoholic  power  contained  by  each. 

Nine  tenths  of  this  amount  was  consumed  in  the  form  of 
drinks  last  year,  that  is  663,566,889  gallons,  which  is  eleven 
gallons  apiece ; or,  if  the  drinking  population  be  one  fifth  of 
the  whole,  as  many  estimate,  it  is  fifty-five  gallons  to  each. 
But  efforts  to  give  to  each  his  aliquot  part  of  the  evil  is  like 
an  attempt  to  equalize  the  pestilence,  the  ravages  of  the 
cyclone  or  of  the  Chatsworth  railroad  disaster. 

Only  those  who  can  reckon  the  calamity  of  a destroyed 
body  and  a lost  soul,  and  apportion  it  to  the  whole  com- 
munity can  make  a satisfactory  general  average  of  the  evils 


204 


the  temperance  movement. 


of  last  year’s  consumption  of  intoxicating  drinks  in  this 
country.  They  tell  us  that  100,000  human  beings — our  own 
countrymen — were  destroyed  by  the  direct  and  indirect  action 
of  alcohol,  used  as  a beverage,  in  the  }rear  of  our  Lord  and 
Saviour,  Jesus  Christ,  1886.  Suppose  there  was  one , what  is 
the  damage?  Was  it  infinite?  Was  there  any  need  of  it? 
Who  is  responsible  ? What  is  the  extent  of  that  responsi- 
bility? Am  I my  brother’s  keeper?  We  are  consuming  still 
more  in  1887.  My  countrymen,  think  of  these  things. 


KIND  OP  LIQUORS. 

Quantity. 

Import 

value. 

DISTILLED  SPIRITS. 

Domestic : 

Proof  qalls. 

Dollars. 

From  fruit 

1,555,094 

Other : 

Bourbon  whisky. . 

14,080,623 

live  whisky 

5.132.634 

Alcohol 

8,801,247 

Rum 

922,695 

Gin 

075,653 

Hish  wines 

2,409.880 

Pure,  neutral,  etc.. 

26,434,289 

Miscellaneous 

10,787,334 

Total  domestic.. 

70,85]  ,355 

Imported : 

6G7 

Alcohol 

5:32 

Branch* 

455,231 

1,106,852 

Cordials,  etc 

109,522 

265, 4S6 

Other : 

From  jrrain 

C51.984 

326, SOS 

From  othermateriul. 

192,689 

117,067 

Total  imported 

1,410,25S 

1,816,580 

Total  spirits 

72,261,614 

KIND  OF  LIQUORS. 

Quantity. 

Import 

value. 

31  ALT  LIQUORS. 

Domestic 

Gallons. 

G40,74G,2SS 

Dollars. 

Imported : 

794,225 

In  bottles 

939,573 

Not  in  bottles 

1,281,859 

412,033 

Total  imported 

2,221 .432 

1,206,237 

Total  malt  liquors.. 

642,967,720 

WINES. 

Domestic 

17,366,393 

Imported : 

3,002,400 

Champaame,  etc 

547, G7S 

Still  wines : 

In  bottles.  

500,9331,286,722 

In  casks 

3,535,157 

2,396,539 

Vermuth : 

In  bottles 

5G.799 

67,640 

In  casks 

260 

171 

Total  imported... 

4,700, S27 

6,753,472 

Total  wines. .. . 

22,067,220] 

The  grand  total  of  all  is — 

Distilled  spirits 72,2G1,G14 

Malt  liquors 642,907.720 

Wines 22,067,220 


Gallons 


737,29G,554 


But,  see  ! here  is  our  reward.  Look  into  the  columns  of 
the  next  table  (p.  205). 

There  it  is — "Total  internal  and  customs  revenue  !”  What 
a mass  of  money — and  of  misery  ! 

Ninety-six  millions  last  year  ! — one  dollar  and  sixty  cents 
apiece — while  on  the  other  hand  the  people  for  this  paid 
fifteen  dollars  in  cash , every  one  of  them,  if  you  divide  it 
equally.  On  this  transaction  each  one  of  us  receives  $1.60  and 
pays  out  $15.00 — losing  $13.38,  or  eight  times  as  much  as 


PARTNERSHIP  WITH  GIANT  DESPAIR. 


205 


we  get — besides  all  the  rest  lor  which  see  the  records  of  crime, 
wretchedness  and  shame  in  full.  As  a fact,  everybody  suffered 
greatly,  and  twelve  millions  of  us  were  chained  by  it  in  a land 
of  darkness, — the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  where  no 
Redeemer  is,  with  staff  and  rod  to  comfort.  There  is  no 
rescue  in  that  valley,  for  it  is  one  vast  infernal  region,  where 
nothing  lives  save  that  which  imparts  death  with  bludgeon, 
bite  or  noxious  exhalation.  Absolutely  this  is  all : one 
dollar  and  sixty  cents  apiece,  our  annual  dividend  in  this 
partnership  with  Giant  Despair.  I might  leave  the  statement 
here,  so  far  as  our  own  country  is  concerned.  These  tables 
are  the  key  of  infinite  investigation,  argument  and  thought. 


AMOUNTS  OF  INTERNAL  AND  CUSTOMS  REVENUE  RECEIPTS  OF  THE  UNITED 
STATES  FROM  MALT  LIQUORS,  DISTILLED  SPIRITS  AND  AVINES  FROM 
1866  TO  1SSG,  INCLUSIArE. 


Year 
ending 
June  30— 

Internal 

revenue. 

Customs  revenue. 

Total  internal 
and  customs 
revenue. 

Spirits. 

Fermented 

liquors. 

Malt 

liquors. 

Distilled 

spirits. 

Wines. 

Dollars. 

Dollars. 

Dollars. 

Dollars. 

Dollars. 

Dollars. 

ISGfi 

83, 268,172 

5,220,558 

194,233 

1,9,13,883 

3,044,399 

44.231,240 

1807 

33,542 ,952 

Ojfj.yz  ,5oi 

205,202 

3,542,582 

3,421,295 

40.709.532 

ISOS 

18,0.15 ,031 

5,955  ,S09 

235,930 

3,317,071 

2,931,703 

31,140,804 

1809 

41,071 .231 

6,u9i),S79 

270,083 

3,053,141 

3,524,005 

5S, 024 ,339 

1870 

55,0(10 .084 

0,319,127 

315,915 

3,911,107 

4,110,045 

70,202,918 

1871 

40,281 ,848 

7,389  ,-‘02 

433, 05S 

3,951,500 

4,478,974 

02,535,542 

1872 

49,475,510 

8,258 ,483 

584,409 

4,373,410 

4,205.82(1 

60,957,719 

1873 

52,099,872 

9,324 ,938 

032,912 

4,250,52 1 

4,280,014 

70,G17,S00 

1874 

49,444,090 

9.304 ,080 

5S5,988 

3,917,010 

3,912,872 

67,105,040 

1870 

52,081 ,991 

9,144,901 

077,499 

3,391,490 

3,393,203 

6S, 538, 103 

1870 

50,423,801 

9.571 ,231 

425,318 

2,947,094 

2,980,185 

72,350,793 

1877 

57,409,480 

9,480 ,789 

317,709 

2,701.999 

2,752,901 

72,782,948 

187S 

50,42.1,810 

9,937 ,052 

240,292 

2,409,410 

2,400.520 

65,524,176 

1879 

52,570  .285 

10,729,320 

254,099 

2,511,130 

2,595,241 

68.600,081 

1880 

01,185,50!) 

12,829  ,S93 

283.29o 

2,788,531 

3,089,445 

80,170,584 

1881 

07,158,975 

13,701)  .241 

321,048 

2,935,708 

3,370,901 

87,517,873 

1882 

09,878  ,403 

10,153,920 

417,202 

3,101.522 

3,004,929 

93,210,981 

1883 

71,838,775 

]<'>,l)00 

511,383 

3,374,507 

5,307,451 

100,522,732 

1884 

70,905 ,381 

18,084,954 

533.24 1 

3,141,391 

3,589,255 

101,254,226 

1885 

07,511 ,209 

18,230 ,782 

510,999 

2,943,902 

3,005,792 

92,808,554 

1880 

09,092 ,290 

19,070,731 

585,102 

2,834,090 

3,774,349 

95,903,144 

Colonel  Switzler  has  published,  in  connection  with  his  tabu- 
lated and  other  matter,  an  "estimate  of  the  cost  of  alcoholic 
beverages  to  the  consumer,  prepared  at  his  request  by  Mr. 
N.F.  Barrett,  the  able  editor  of  the  New  York  Grocer This 
estimate  is  not  subject  to  the  critcism  that  it  is  exaggerated. 
On  the  contrary,  as  ive  may  hereafter  see,  it  is  at  the  lowest 
minimun  of  probability,  and  therefore  particularly  valuable. 
It  is  made  purely  from  the  economic  stand-point,  and  is  here 


20G 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


introduced  that  it  may  be  found  in  connection  with  the  other 
important  matter  contained  in  Colonel  Switzler’s  report. 

To  begin  with,  both  Mr.  Barrett  and  Mr.  Edward  Atkinson 
agree  that  the  total  cost  of  intoxicating  liquors  in  this  country 
for  the  year  1886,  after  deducting  ten  per  cent,  for  various 
forms  of  useful  comsumption,  was  $700,000,000.  Of  course 
that  sum  is  wholly  beyond  comprehension,  and  its  increase 
or  diminution  becomes  important  only  in  comparison  with 
other  vast  amounts  which  make  up  the  schedule  of  our 
national  affairs.  Mr.  Barrett  believes  that  whatever  amount 
of  the  entire  mass  of  liquors  manufactured  is  consumed, 
otherwise  than  as  a beverage,  is  made  good  by  the  various 
forms  of  adulteration  and  of  dilution  by  water,  for  which  the 
consumer  pays  as  for  the  liquor  itself.  He  thinks  fifteen  per 
cent,  covers  all  forms  of  adulteration  or  reduction  by  the  use 
of  any  other  agent.  Mr.  Barrett  presents  the  following  table 
or  estimate  of  the  "cost  of  alcoholic  beverages  to  consumers 
in  the  United  States.” 

DISTILLED  SPIRITS. 

The  annual  consumption  of  domestic  and  imported  distilled 
spirits  as  reported  by  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Statistics 
for  the  five  years  ending  June  30,  1886,  was  as  follows  : 

Gallons. 

1886  72,261,614 

1885  70,600,092 

1884  81,128,581 


Total  for  three  years 223,990.287 

Average  per  year 74.663.429 

78,452.687 
73,556  ;9  76 


Total  for  five  years 375,999.950 

Average  per  year 75,199,990 

He  adopts  75,000,000  gallons  as  representing  the  quantity 
of  distilled  spirits  (including  alcohol)  annually  consumed  in 
the  United  States,  and  after  deducting  for  various  causes,  and 
increasing  for  other  reasons,  that  finally  the  consumer  drinks 
and  pays  for  that  amount. 


1883 

1882 


CONSUMPTION  OF  BEER. 


207 


The  retailer  gives  $2.25  per  gallon  for  liquors  and  $1.15 
to  $1.25  for  high  wines,  and  the  drinker  pays  cents  per 
glass.  The  retailer  gets  60  glasses  from  a gallon,  making 
the  total  cost  of  "whiskies”  $337,500,000. 

He  gives  us  the  following  table  as  to  beer ; the  annual 
consumption  of  which  for  five  years  has  been  as  follows  : 

Gallons. 

1886  642,967,720 

1885  595,131,866 

1884  590,016,517  • 

Total  for  three  years  ....  1,829,116,103 
' Average  yearly 609,705,367 

1883  551,497,340 

1882  . 526,379,980 

Total  for  five  years 2,906,993,423 

Average  per  annum 581,398,685 

Adopting  the  average  annual  consumption  for  three  years 
as  a basis,  we  have  609,705,367  gallons  as  representing  the 
quantity  drunk,  of  which  2,100,370  gallons  were  imported. 

He  concludes,  after  careful  calculation,  that  fifty  cents  per 
gallon  fully  represents  the  cost  to  the  consumers,  and  finds 
the  cost  of  beer  to  be  $304,852,683. 

WINES. 

Four  million  one  hundred  thousand  six  hundred  and  sixty- 
four  gallons  of  imported  wines  at  $4.00  per  gallon  cost  the 
consumer  $16,402,656  ; 17,391,343  gallons  of  domestic  wines 
at  $2.00  per  gallon  cost  $34,782,686. 

His  summary  is  in  the  following  table  : 


Kinds  of  Liquors. 

Quantity, 

gallons. 

Estimated  cost. 

Per  gallon. 

Total. 

7.">,ono.ooo 
god. 7 o.")  .:k;  7 

$4  50 

50 

$307,500,000 

1304  ,S.~>2,GS3 

4,100,(504 

4 00 

1 0,402 ,65G 
34,7S2,GS6 

17,391,343 

2 00 

Total  annual  cost  to  consumers  of  alco- 
holic beverages  in  the  United  States 

G93, 738,025 
0,401,975 

Add  for  illicit  whisky  and  home-made  wines 

700,000,000 

208 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


Mr.  Barrett  corroborates  his  general  accuracy  by  the  fol- 
lowing appeal  to  " the  last  yearly  statement  of  the  Bureau  in 
detail.” 

BUREAU  STATEMENT. 

Gallons. 

Domestic  spirits  consumed 70,851,355 

Gallons. 

Less  alcohol  used  in  arts 8,801,247 

Less  spirits  used  to  adulterate  imported 

brandy 455,231 

9,316.478 

Used  as  a beverage 61,534,877 

Water  added  estimated  at  15  per  cent 9,298,515 

Imported  spirits  (less  brandy  and  alcohol) 954,195 

Total  spirits  consumed 71,787,587 

ESTIMATED  COST. 

Domestic  distilled  spirits,  71,787,587  gallons,  60 
drinks  per  gallon,  at  7},  cents  per  drink,  or  $4.50 


per  gallon $323,044,141 

Domestic  beer,  640,746,288  gallons,  at  50  cents 320,373,144 

Imported  beer,  2,221,432  gallons,  at  $1  2,221.432 

Domestic  wines,  17,366,393  gallons,  at  $2 34,732,786 

Imported  champagne,  547,678  gallons  or  2,738,390 

quart  bottles,  at  $2.50 6,845.975 

Imported  still  wines,  4.096,090  gallons,  at  $4 16,384,360 

Imported  vermuth,  57.059  gallons,  at  86 342,354 

Imported  brandy,  455,231  gallons:  domestic  spirits, 
used  in  adulteration,  455,231  gallons  ; total,  910,462 
gallons,  at  $S 7,283,696 


Total $711,227,888 


So  this  is  the  result  of  a determined  effort  of  the  able  editor 
of  the  American  Grocer , — I quote  his  language — "to  present 
such  a statement  as  would  command  the  indorsement  of  such 
high  authorities  as  yourself  (Col.  Switzler)  and  Mr.  Edward 
Atkinson,  and  in  order  that  it  nnpy  be  used  to  put  a stop  to 
the  wild  stories  constantly  circulated  regarding  the  enormous 
sum  annually  spent  in  the  United  States  for  alcoholic  bev- 
erages.” 

I confess  that  for  one  I do  not  see  much  cause  for  con- 
gratulation over  the  result.  Few  of  the  most  fanatical  of 
temperance  statisticians  do  worse  for  the  liquor  traffic  than 


MR.  ZIMMERMAN’S  FIGURES. 


209 


.Mr.  Barrett  and  Mr.  Atkinson,  so  far  as  the  direct  cost  is 
concerned.  Nine  hundred  million  is  the  estimate  of  some,  but 
usually  the  direct  losses  are  considered  about  $750,000,000; 
and  indirect,  for  which  Mr.  Barrett  provides  no  place,  at  as 
much  more.  I will,  however,  for  the  sake  of  showing  that 

o 

there  is  some  method  in  the  madness  of  these  " fanatics,”  give 
a condensed  statement  of  the  estimate  of  Rev.  Chas.  H.  Zim- 
merman, as  published  in  the  Union  Signal  of  June  16,  1887. 
He  says  that  the  drink  traffic  is  a legalized  wholesale  robber. 
It  robs  the  people  of  this  country  of  $4,000,000,000 — four 
billions — annually.  Yet  he  estimates  for  the  direct  cost-— (the 
same  for  which  Mr.  Barrett  and  Mr.  Atkinson  fix  upon 
$700,000,000 — for  the  purpose  of  silencing  the  prevalent  non- 
sense of  temperance  fanatics)  onty  $900,000,000.  As  to  this 
item  we  see  later  on  'whether  he  is  so  far  out  of  the  w7ay. 

Then  Mr.  Zimmerman  comes  to  the  indirect  losses  to  the 
nation.  The  second  item,  " $900,000,000  worth  of  time  wasted 
by  wage  workers  and  business  men  through  the  effects  of 
drink.”  He  says  it  takes  40  or  50  cents  worth  of  bad  whisky 
or  beer  to  unfit  a man  for  a whole  day’s  wrork,  which  to  the 
average  wrage  worker  means  a loss  of  $1  to  $2,  and  skilled 
mechanics,  contractors  and  business  managers  from  $3  to  $10, 
and  in  case  of  the  latter  probably  $50  for  the  day  wasted  in 
a drunken  spree  and  in  getting  over  the  effects.  He  then 
alludes  to  the  testimony  of  " a score  of  witnesses  before  the 
Senate  Committee  on  the  relations  between  labor  and  capital,” 
•which  testimony  was  given  in  the  presence  of  the  author  of 
this  work , to  the  effect  that  many  workmen  -when  paid  off 
Saturday,  immediately  "go  on  a spree”  and  are  hardly  fit  for 
woitk  on  Monday,  while  many  do  not  return  to  work  until 
Tuesday  or  even  Wednesday.  When  paid  on  Monday  they 
frequently  lose  still  more  time.  " Now7  w:hen  v7e  consider  that 
much  of  the  money  spent  in  drink  thus  entails  a loss  of  from 
four  to  six  times  as  much  in  wrasted  time  it  becomes  plain 
that  my  second  item  in  the  robbery  account,  $900,000,000,  is 
a low  estimate.” 

His  third  item  is  $600,000,000  "for  annual  cost  of  paupers, 
criminals,  almshouses,  asylums,  jails,  prisons,  extra  police, 
criminal  courts  and  prosecutions.”  Then  he  proceeds  to 
assert  that  twro  thirds  of  all  insanity  and  three  fourths  of  pau- 
14 


210 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


perism  and  crime,  cost  of  criminal  and  police  administration, 
etc.,  of  buildings  required  and  charity  which  is  made  necessary 
by  drink,  poverty,  physicians’  services  (not  one  fourth  of 
which  is  ever  paid  for,  but  which  is  all  the  same  a loss),  and 
the  " immense  sum  that  might  have  been  earned  by  drink- 
made  paupers,  invalids  and  criminals,”  are  chargeable  to  strong 
drink,  and  the  Reverend  " Fanatic  ” thinks  that  $600,000,000 
is  reasonable  for  all  this. 

Then  he  figures  the  loss  of  the  labor  and  capital  converted  an- 
nually into  a worthless  and  accursed  article  at  $1,000,000,000. 
Now  as  this  article  costs  $700,000,000,  according  to  Mr. 
Barrett,  and  $900,000,000,  according  to  Mr.  Zimmerman,  and 
the  same  labor  and  capital  might  have  been  employed  in  pro- 
ducing something  useful  instead,  there  appears  to  be  great 
moderation  in  fixing  this  item  at  $1,000,000,000.  I would 
raise  that  a few  hundred  millions  ; but  this  is  not  ni}r  estimate. 

Then  comes  the  fifth  item  of  $600,000,000,  which  he  says 
the  100,000  people  killed  annually  by  the  liquor  crime  would 
have  added  to  society’s  wealth.  He  is  not  responsible  for  the 
statement  that  100,000  die  in  this  wa}r  annually.  IVise  and 
conservative  physicians  and  expert  statisticians  say  that.  But 
lie  sa}Ts  that  an  average  of  fifteen  productive  years  is  thus 
taken  from  the  lives  of  these  100,000  victims,  or  a total  of 
1,500,000  years,  annually,  and  then  cites  Mr.  Atkinson  as 
stating  that  the  " average  yearly  earnings  of  all  who  are 
engaged  in  gainful  occupations  in  the  United  States  are  $450, 
which,  by  the  way,  I think  is  $150  too  high.  He  fixes  the 
amount  at  $400,  and  finds  a total  of  $600,000,000  annually 
lost  to  society  by  the  premature  destruction  of  the  productive 
power  of  these  100,000  men  who  die  fifteen  years  before  their 


time.  Mr.  Zimmerman  puts  it  as  follows  : 

The  drink  bill $900,000,000 

Value  of  time  wasted  through  the  effects  of  drink 900,000,000 

Paid  to  support  paupers,  criminals,  etc 000,000,000 

Value  of  time  vmsted  in  non-productive  work  b}r 
men  in  the  traffic,  and  by  officials  engaged  in 

caring  for  its  victims 1.000.000,000 

Value  of  time  lost  to  society  by  premature  death 

of  100,000  annually 600,000,000 

Total $4,000,000,000 


Mrs.  Dr.  John  P.  Newman , 

of  Washington. 


ONE  HUNDRED  THOUSAND  VICTIMS. 


211 


The  worst  tiling  about  the  ravings  of  Mr.  Zimmerman  is 
that  he  seems  to  prove  them  to  be  true.  It  certainty  seems  to  me 
that  until  its  friends  secure  the  appointment  of  a National  Com- 
mision  for  Inquiry  into  the  alcoholic  liquor  traffic,  and  so  vindi- 
cate their  craft,  that  the}’  must  be  willing  to  accept  the  modest 
general  estimate  of  the  more  conservative  of  the  fanatics,  to  wit : 
that  they  damage  the  United  States  at  least  $1,500,000,000 
every  year,  while  they  accomplish  no  appreciable  good.  But 
Mr.  Zimmerman  concludes  with  a reflection  full  of  discomfort 
to  us  all.  "In  our  country  the  people  are  the  sovereigns,  the 

real  law  makers We  therefore  are  the  real  criminals 

against  God  and  humanity.”  Worse  still — but  this  is  for  men 
onty — he  insists  that  "more  manifestly  true  is  it  that  the 
hands  of  every  man  who  votes  to  legalize  and  perpetuate  the 
drink  crime  under  license  or  tax  laws,  or  in  any  form,  are 
red  with  the  blood  of  the  100,000  people  it  murders  annually.” 
I am  sorry  that  Mr.  Zimmerman  said  that.  It  makes  me  un- 
comfortable. I have  long  felt  a great  and  complacent  aver- 
sion toward  the  super-devilish  depravity  of  the  brutal  fiends 
who  perpetrate  railroad  horrors  for  plunder  and  gain.  But 
when  I thought  I was  so  good  a man,  and  only  last  Sabbath 
gave  a silver  dollar,  with  some  ostentation  I fear,  to  the 
heathen,  to  be  told  by  a minister  that  I am  one  of  60,000,000 
of  good,  civilized,  people  who  murder  100,000  of  their  fel- 
low citizens  every  }rear,  and  lose  $4,000,000,000  by  it  be- 
sides, reveals  me  to  myself  in  the  light  of  both  a villain  and 
a fool ; nor  does  it  relieve  me  much  if  the  cash  loss  be  onty 
$1,500,000,000 ; neither  am  I realty  happy  in  the  thought 
that  by  sharp  reckoning,  and  by  casting  out  the  worst  and 
biggest  items,  I am  still  a murderer  at  an  annual  loss  in  money 
of  $700,000,000  only , and  that  the  clergyman  admits  that 
he  is  himself  one  of  the  same  sad  combination.  Now  let  us 
indulge  m the  proudest  exclamation  of  man,  "I  am  an  Amer- 
can.” 

The  liquor  traffic  should  go. 

The  following  table  is  taken  from  the  Political  Prohi- 
bitionist for  1886,  and  is  inserted  here  for  the  convenience 
of  those  who  desire  to  pursue  the  traffic  to  its  lair  in  the 
several  states.  It  contains  the  latest  available  data,  is  pre- 
pared with  much  labor  and  is  of  great  value. 


212 


the  temperance  movement. 


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Arkansas 

California 

(a)  Colorado 

Connecticut 

(b)  Delaware  .... 

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Georgia 

Illinois 

Indiana 

Iowa 

Kansas 

Kentucky 

Louisiana 

Maine 

Maryland 

Massachusetts. . . 

Michigan 

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(c)  Montana 

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Mexico.!  100,00.r> 


STATISTICS  OF  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 


213 


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214 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


One  further  matter  in  the  valuable  calculations  of  Mr. 
Barrett : lie  finds  an  expenditure  for  liquor  of  about  one 
twelfth  to  one  sixteenth  as  much  as  for  the  total  cost  of 
support.  He  thinks  one  fourth  of  the  people  are  consum- 
ers of  liquor,  therefore  they  would  expend  one  fourth  to  one 
third  as  much  for  liquor  as  for  all  articles  of  sustenance — pro- 
vided that  liquor  consumers  lived  as  well  as  the  temperate, 
industrious  and  thrifty.  With  the  total  cost  of  strong  drink, 
direct  and  indirect,  falling  primarily  upon  one  fourth  of  the 
population — according  to  Mr.  Barrett’s  careful  estimate — or 
upon  one  fifth,  which  I think  to  be  nearer  the  true  number 
who  consume  any  considerable  amount,  the  imagination  need 
not  be  called  upon  to  magnify  the  sufferings  of  the  drunkard 
and  his  family,  when,  unfortunately,  he  has  any. 

I also  ask  attention  to  this  table  : 


CONSUMPTION  OF  PEEK  AND  MUTTS  ICY  COMPARED. 


YEAR. 


1877  

1878  

1879  

1880  

1881 

1882 

18S3 

1SS4 

18S5 ... 

1886 


In  the  United  States. 


Distilled 
liquors 
with- 
drawn for 
con- 
sumption. 


59,920,118 

51,937,941 

54,278,475 

63,526,694 

70,607,081 

73,550,976 

78,452,087 

81,128,581 

70,000,GS7 

72,045,GS1 


Malt 

liquors 

con- 

sumed. 


Arinous 

liquors 

con- 

sumed. 


304,926,667  21, S7G,: 
317,969,352  22,263,: 
344,G05,4S5  27,377, 
414,220,165  28,329,; 
[444.112,169  24,162, 
526.379.9S0  25,562, 
551,497,340  25,778, 
590,016,517  20,508, 
'590,131,866 
,644,295,116 


YEAR. 


In  Canada. 


Aver.  1st  5 yrs. 60, 054,062 385,166,707 

Aver,  last  5 yrs.75,156,922  581,664,767 

Increase  25  per  ct.  50  per  ct.  - 

Increase,  population  in5  yi's.,  about 


22,349,577^1886 

24, 201, 975 j Aver.  1st  4 yrs.  3,799.513  8,964,403" 


Dis- 

tilled 

liquors 

con- 

sumed. 

Malt 

liquors 

con- 

sumed. 

3,864,254 

3,933,916 

4,569,377 

9.0S0.949 
S,65S,34G 
S, 922, 255 
9,106,516 
9,787,914 
11,928,616 
12,934.424 
13,379,677 
13,392, 4S6 

[4,149,106 

|4,614,4S5 

4,900,120 

4,568,954 

15,287,542 

Vinous 

liquors 

con- 

sumed. 


386,925 

369,425 

409,325 

312.S11 

450.250 

546,788 

589.217 

537,961 

511,849 


' 369,621 


23^0164351  A verilast  SYrsAdbfioil  12,'oS4,623  527413 

—5  per  ct. 'Increase..  .23.8  per  ct.  34.S  per  ct.  42.3  per  ct. 
15  per  ct.  [Increase,  population,  432  yrs.,  about  10  per  ct 


While  the  average  consumption  of  malt  liquors  in  the  United 
States  during  the  last  five  years  of  the  period  is  50  per  cent, 
more  than  the  average  consumption  during  the  first  five  years, 
the  average  increase  in  the  consumption  of  spirituous  liquors 
between  the  same  periods  and  compared  in  the  same  way  is 
25  per  cent.  In  Canada  the  average  consumption  of  beer 
during  the  last  five  years  increases  34.8  per  cent,  over  the 
average  consumption  of  the  four  preceding  years  : yet  the 
same  comparison  shows  an  average  increase  in  the  consump- 
tion of  spirituous  liquors  of  23.8  per  cent,  and  of  wines  of 


TILE  FIGURES  FOR  1886. 


215 


42.3  per  cent.  The  increase  in  population  in  the  United 
States  in  five  years,  the  period  between  which  the  two  aver- 
age comparisons  are  made,  is  only  15  per  cent.  ; the  increase 
in  Canada  for  four  and  one-half  years,  about  10  per  cent. 

Figures  are  taken  for  the  United  States  from  the  Reports 
of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics.  The  figures  were  furnished  by 
the  Canadian  Department  of  Internal  Revenue.  The  reason 
why  the  comparison  begins  at  1876  is  because  the  Federal  tax 
on  distilled  liquors  since  that  time  has  remained  practically 
unchanged. 

The  following  estimate,  prepared  for  The  Voice  by  C.  B. 
Cotton,  is  also  worthy  of  careful  study  as  showing  the  waste 
of  materials  and  perversion  of  industry  to  hurtful  production. 
Major  Cotton  having  for  many  years  been  engaged  in  the 
liquor  business,  and  given  careful  study  to  special  statistical 
phases  of  the  liquor  question,  is  a reliable  authority. 

LABOR  EMPLOYED  BY  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC,  1886. 

Distillers,  6,242  ; rectifiers,  1.376  ; wholesale  dealers,  spirituous 
liquors,  4,290  ; retail  dealers,  spirituous  liquors,  190,121  ; brewers, 
2,292  ; wholesale  dealers,  malt  liquors,  3,012  ; retail  dealers,  malt 
liquors,  8.400  ; distillers’  employees,  62,420  ; brewers’  employees, 
45,840;  rectifiers’  employees,  6,880;  employees,  wholesale  dealers, 
spirituous  liquors,  30,120;  employees,  retail  dealers,  spirituous 
liquors,  190,121  ; employees  wholesale  dealers,  malt  liquors,  15,060  ; 
employees  retail  dealers,  malt  liquors,  8,409  ; total,  564,592. 

MATERIALS  USED,  1886. 

Bushels  of  grain,  19,195,332  ; gallons  of  molasses,  2,308,130. 

Returning  to  the  subject  of  the  present  cost  of  the  liquor 
traffic  to  our  own  country,  I wish  to  place  on  record  the 
conclusions  of  Dr.  Hargreaves  as  given  by  himself,  after 
careful  study  of  the  statistics  of  Col.  Switzler,  and  the  esti- 
mates of  Mr.  Barrett. 

The  investigations  of  Dr.  Young,  the  former  chief  of  the 
Bureau  of  Statistics,  were  very  thorough,  and  his  conclusions 
as  to  the  retail  cost  of  the  various  kinds  of  liquors  are  adopt- 
ed by  Dr.  Hargreaves,  who  first  submitted  them  to  the  ex- 
amination of  an  ex-retail  dealer,  and  was  informed  that  they 
are  rather  less  than  more  than  the  prices  actually  paid  by  the 
consumer. 


216 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


These  prices  are  as  follows  : 

Domestic  spirits $ 6.00  per  gallon. 

Domestic  malt  liquors 20.00  per  barrel. 

Imported  spirits 10.00  per  gallon. 

Imported  wines 5.00  per  gallon. 

Imported  ale,  beer,  etc.  . 2.00  to  3.00  per  callon. 

Applying  these  prices  to  the  amount  of  liquor  consumed 
in  this  country  for  the  year  1886,  and  the  total  cost  is 
$914,675,205,  or  $214,695,205  more  than  the  estimate  of 
Mr.  Barrett.  Dr.  Hargreaves  also  insists  with  great  force 
that  so  large  is  the  increase  in  quantity  sold  on  account 
of  adulterations,  and  by  " crooked  whisky,  ” that  20  per 
cent,  is  not  too  much  to  add  to  the  amount  which  is  included 
in  the  statistics  of  the  government.  " The  business  of  sell- 
ing oils,  essences  and  chemicals  for  reducing,  adulterating 
and  mixing  alcoholic  liquors  is  carried  on  very  extensively 
in  most  of  our  large  cities  and  towns.  . . Indeed  it  is  so 
common  that  no  secret  is  made  of  the  business.” 

I insert  the  following  tables  ofDr.  Hargreaves,  which  are 
in  my  belief  not  an  excessive  statement  of  the  cost  of  the 
traffic  in  the  years  named.  The  second  table  contains  only 
the  aggregate  cost  of  each  year,  but  the  result  is  worked  out 
with  the  same  detail  as  for  the  year  1886. 


THE  QUANTITY  AND  COST  OF  LIQUORS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  FOR  THE  YEAR  1SS6. 
[From  Report  of  Bureau  of  Statistics.] 


Domestic  spirits 

Domestic  malt  liquors,  20,G69,235  bbl: 

Imported  spirits 

Imported  trines 

Imported  malt  liquors 


. 70,751,355  gals.,  at  $6  gal.,  $424,508,130 
.640,740,283  gals.,  at  S20  bbl.,  413,334,700 
. 1,410,2.59  gals.,  at  $10  gal.,  14.102,590 

. 4, 700, S27  gals.,  at  $ 5 gal.,  23, 504, 135 

. 2,221,432  gals.,  at  $ 2 gal.,  4,442,364 


Total 719.S30.161  gals.,  costing  $879, 942.419- 

Add  Domestic  wines 17,366,393  gals.,  at  $2  gal.  34,732,786 

Total 737,196,554  gals.,  costing  $914,675,205 


THE  COST  OF  ALCOHOLIC  BEVERAGES  DURING  THE  TEN  YEARS,  1877  to  1SSG,  INCLUSIVE, 
IN  PERIODS  OF  FIVE  YEARS. 


Cost  for  live  years  ending  June  30,  1SS1.  I Cost  for  live  years  ending  June  30, 1SGG. 


1S77 $635.6] 3,534  1SS2 $875,665,844 

1878  5S5, 783,762:1883  944,G2!I,5S1 

1879  G20 , 075 , 93 0 1 1 SS4  899,898,490 

1880  733,816,495  1885  S34, 277,480 

18S1 800, 112, 5S0  1886  879,942,419 


Total  live  years $3,375,402,301  Total  five  years $4,434,413,316 

Annual  average,  five  years...  675,080,460]  Annual  average,  five  years. . SSG,SS2,6G2 


Total  ten  years  ending  June  30, 18S6 $7,S09,S15,615 

Annual  average  for  ten  years 7S0,S15,56L 


Commenting  upon  these  estimates,  Dr.  Hargreaves  says  : 


LEX  US  HAVE  THE  TRUTH. 


217 


The  above  costs  are  exclusive  of  domestic  wines  and  cider,  the  wine 
alone  consumed  as  given  in  Mr.  Switzler’s  report  was  186,461,736 
gallons,  and  at  the  low  estimate  of  $2  a gallon,  would  cost  the  con- 
sumers during  the  ten  years  $372,923,526,  or  an  average  of 
$37,292,352  a year.  TVliat  the  cider  would  cost  drank  as  cham- 
pagne and  other  beverages,  it  is  impossible  to  estimate,  but  is 
undoubtedly  a large  sum.  I am  therefore  confident  that  my 
estimates  of  the  prices  of  liquors,  the  quantity  consumed  with  their 
cost  annually  in  the  United  States,  would  be  found  not  more  than 
the  actual  amount,  if  it  could  be  ascertained,  which  is  not  possible, 
as  so  many  difficulties  meet  us  in  our  efforts.  At  the  best  we  can 
only  approximate,  but  I hope  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  Con- 
gress will,  in  defiance  of  the  liquor  interest,  appoint  a commission 
of  inquiry  into  the  alcoholic  liquor  traffic,  and  furnish  the  country 
with  more  official  information  than  at  present  obtainable,  and  that 
we  may  be  able  to  say,  within  a few  million  dollars,  what  the 
actual  cost  of  alcoholic  beverages  is  to  our  people,  as  well  as  their 
relation  to  trade  and  commerce,  and  pauperism,  crime,  vice  and 
disease,  and  the  other  evils  that  have  their  chief  source  in  alcoholic 
drinks  and  the  traffic  in  them  throughout  our  nation.  The  truth  is 
our  only  desire,  for  exaggeration  and  falsehood  will  not  aid  us  or 
any  other  good  cause.  Let  us  have  the  truth,  for 

“ Ever  the  truth  comes  uppermost 
And  ever  is  justice  done/’ 

The  poetry  is  very  encouraging  and,  I quote  it  sometimes 
myself,  but  in  this  connection  it  seems  like  the  recommenda- 
tion by  the  owner  of  his  graphiphone,  who  said  it  would 
reproduce  its  impressions  of  sound  forever.  Being  asked 
how  he  knew  it,  he  replied  "we  have  tried  it.”  If  the  truth 
ever  does  get  uppermost  it  will  be  the  end  of  the  liquor 
business  in  this  world,  but  there  are  the  consequences  of  all 
that  has  been,  which  will  last  forever. 

“The  saddest  is  this,  it  might  have  been.” 

If  one  half  the  cost  of  domestic  wine  and  cider  be  added  to 
the  average  cost  of  other  liquors,  we  have  an  aggregate  of 
over  $800,000,000,  so  that  the  yearly  cost  of  intoxicating 
beverages  is  three  times  greater  than  all  the  expenses  of 
the  general  government,  including  the  interest  on  the  public 
debt.  It  maybe  said  then,  to  illustrate  this  enormous  sum  by 
comparison,  that  the  direct  losses  by  liquor  yearly  are  more 
than  half  the  entire  amount  of  all  the  money,  greenbacks, 
bank  bills,  gold,  silver  and  all,  in  circulation  in  the  United 


218 


the  temperance  movement. 


States ; ten  times  the  sum  paid  out  for  the  support  of  the 
common  schools  of  the  country  ; and,  the  average  duration  of 
school  attendance  being  little  over  five  years,  enough  yearly 
to  educate,  after  the  fashion  that  we  do  educate  in  our  common 
schools  throughout  the  country,  two  generations  of  our  chil- 
dren. The  colleges  of  the  country  cost  yearly,  according  to 
the  last  census,  in  round  numbers  five  millions  of  dollars  and 
the  number  of  students  is  sixty  thousand.  The  liquor  waste 
would  pay  the  tuition  of  ten  million  students  and  so  give 
collegiate  education  to  more  than  half,  instead  of  one  in  every 
three  hundred,  of  the  school  population  of  the  country  who 
now  receive  it.  This  is  more  than  the  average  common 
school  attendance,  so  that,  if  it  could  be  so  applied  as  to  reach 
all  dail}r,  the  liquor  money  -would  pay  for  liberal  courses  of 
study  to  all  the  children  of  the  countiy.  In  fact,  it  would  be 
cheaper  to  make  the  college  system  of  education  as  free  and 
universal  as  the  common  school,  than  to  maintain  the  liquor 
traffic.  Beside  the  relief  from  the  great  evils  of  intemperance, 
who  can  conceive  of  the  positive  good  which  would  spring  from 
such  a common  school,  where  all  the  knowledge  of  the  world 
should  be  free  to  the  poorest  child. 

In  1880,  by  the  census,  there  were  four  times  as  many 
drinking  places  as  churches,  nine  times  as  many  liquor  sellers 
as  ministers,  and  twelve  times  as  much  was  paid  for  liquor  as 
for  gospel  in  the  United  States.  The  cost  of  the  civil  war 
was  included  in  the  eight  years  of  the  administrations  of  Lin- 
coln and  Johnson,  and  the  expenses  of  the  government  during 
that  period  were  $8,500,000,000,  or  about  81,000,000,000 
yearly — hardly  more  than  the  direct  cost  of  the  annual  drink 
bill,  to  say  nothing  of  the  consequences  of  its  consumption. 

In  two  years  the  drink  bill  amounts  to  more  than  the 
national  debt.  The  money  wasted  for  liquor  yearly  would 
buy  homesteads  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  at  $1.25  per 
acre  of  the  public  domain  for  three  million  families,  or  fifteen 
million — one  fourth — of  our  people.  One  year’s  saving  of 
liquor  would  buy  land  for  everybody  who  is  without  it.  In 
two  years,  or  at  most  three,  enough  would  be  saved  to  settle 
every  family  in  a comfortable  home.  But  this  saving  must 
include  the  liquor  waste  of  the  rich  as  well  as  of  the  poor.  The 
pensions  of  our  soldiers  are  scarcely  one  tenth  of  the  cost  of 
our  stromr  drink. 


FIGURES  AND  ESTIMATES. 


219 


In  a striking  work  b}’  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Thompson,  entitled 
"Figures  of  Hell;  or,  the  Temples  of  Bacchus,”  published 
some  years  since,  and  from  which  I have  received  much  assist- 
ance in  some  of  these  calculations,  the  actual  loss  to  the  country 
by  reason  of  the  liquor  traffic  is  estimated  at  not  less  than 
$1,171,291,518,  which  "would  build  and  equip  thirty  thou- 
sand miles  of  railroad  ; pay  the  cost  of  the  public 

schools  for  fifteen  years  ; erect  and  maintain  twelve  thousand 
colleges ; send  out  and  support  one  million  two  hundred 
thousand  missionaries  ; pay  the  entire  national  debt  in  two 
years  ; the  entire  del)!  of  the  country,  national,  state  and 
municipal,  in  less  than  four  years  ; construct  six  hundred  first- 
class  ocean  steamers  ; erect  and  maintain  three  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  fifty  hospitals,  libraries,  homes  for  the  aged,  etc.  ; 
provide  one  third  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  with 
homesteads  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  each  ; run  the  post- 
office  department  for  thirty-four  years  ; . . . . pay  our  foreign 
consular  service  for  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  years  ; purchase,  at  seven  dollars  per  barrel,  one  hundred 
and  sixty-seven  million,  three  hundred  and  twenty-seven 
thousand,  three  hundred  and  fifty-nine  barrels  of  flour,  and 
pay  the  salary  of  the  President  of  the  United  St  ates  for  twenty- 
three  thousand  four  hundred  and  twenty-five  years.” 

On  the  27th  day  of  December,  1876,  in  a speech  made  in 
the  national  House  of  Representatives,  in  support  of  a joint 
resolution  introduced  by  myself,  proposing  an  amendment 
to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  in  regard  to  the 
manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors,  I presented  cer- 
tain facts  and  statistics  from  the  census  of  1870,  and  from 
other  sources  mostly  official,  which  I prepared  with  great  care, 
and  although  the  speech  has  been  in  circulation  since  that 
time,  and  several  hundred  thousand  copies  have  passed  under 
the  eyes  of  intelligent  and  sometimes  hostile  critics,  if  the 
fairness,  moderation  and  accuracy  of  this  statement  have  ever 
been  assailed,  the  fact  has  not  come  to  my  knowledge. 

It  is  true  that  this  statement  is  based  upon  our  condition 
when  our  population  was  38,000,000,  whereas  now  it  is 
60,000,000 — but  the  records  do  not  indicate  a decrease  of  the 
extent  of  the  traffic.  On  the  contrary,  although  the  consump- 
tion of  distilled  spirits  has  decreased  from  2.07  to  1.24  gallons 


220 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


per  capita,  on  the  other  hand  that  of  malt  liquors  has  increased 
from  5. .30  to  11.18  gallons  by  each  person  in  the  country.  I 
therefore  feel  that  I may  fairly  introduce  this  statement  as  evi- 
dence, the  truth  of  which  has  passed  unchallenged  and  practi- 
cally admitted  to  be  true  in  a time  of  controversy  for  more  than 
ten  years,  and  that  it  is  illustrative  of  conditions  still  substan- 
tially unchanged  in  this  country — save  only  that  at  last  the 
people  begin  to  turn  over  in  their  sleep. 

After  a general  discussion  of  principles  and  methods  I then 
said  : 

"I  now  desire  to  present  in  the  best  manner  I can  a state- 
ment of  facts  bearing  upon  the  effect  of  the  manufacture  and 
use  of  intoxicating  liquors  on  the  wealth,  industries  and  pro- 
ductive powers  of  the  nation ; also  upon  its  ignorance, 
pauperism  and  crime.  I have  endeavored  to  authenticate 
every  statement  by  careful  inquiry.  The  information  is  drawn 
from  the  census  returns,  from  records  of  the  Departments  of 
Government,  reports  of  State  authorities,  declarations  from 
prominent  statisticians  and  responsible  gentlemen  in  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  country.  Much  of  it  is  to  be  found,  with  a 
great  deal  more  of  similar  matter,  in  a very  valuable  book 
published  the  present  year.  The  author  is  William  Har- 
greaves, M.  D.,  of  Philadelphia.  No  one  who  has  not  fought 
with  .figures,  like  old  Paul  with  the  beasts  at  Ephesus,  knows 
how  it  taxes  the  utmost  powers  of  man  to  classify,  condense 
and  present  intelligibly  to  the  mind  the  mathematical  or 
statistical  demonstration  of  these  tremendous  social  and  eco- 
nomic facts.  The  truths  they  teach  involve  the  fate  of  modern 
civilization. 

"In  1870  the  tax  collected  by  the  Internal  Revenue  Depart- 
ment was  upon  72,425,353  gallons  of  proof  spirits  and 
6,081,520  barrels  of  fermented  liquors.  Commissioner  Delano 
estimates  the  consumption  of  distilled  spirits  in  1869  at 
80,000.000  gallons.  By  the  census  returns,  June  1,  1860, 
there  were  produced  in  the  United  States  90,412,581  gallons 
of  domestic  spirits — and  of  course  this  was  consumed  with 
large  amounts  imported  besides — but  there  are  very  large 
items  which  escape  the  official  enumeration.  These  have  been 
carefully  estimated  as  follows  : 


Mrs.  Frances  J.  Barnes, 

Superintendent  “ Young  Women's  Word,”  National  W.  C.  T.  U. 


COST  PER  FAMILY. 


221 


Domestic  liquors  evading  tax  and  imported  smug-  Gallons. 

gled,  at  least 5,000,000 

Domestic  wines 10,000,000 

Domestic  wines  made  on  farms 3,092,330 

Domestic  wines  made  and  used  in  private  families  1,000,000 
Dilutions  of  liquors  paying  tax  by  dealers  . . 7,500,000 


26,592,330 

"This  amount  added  to  the  total  produced  in  1860  would  be 
107,004,911 ; added  to  amount  on  which  was  collected  tax  in 
1870  would  be  99,017,683  gallons. 

"It  is  well  known  that  the  great  mass  of  alcoholic  liquor  is 
consumed  as  a beverage,  and  it  will  fall  below  the  fact  to  place 
the  amount  paid  for  it  at  retail  by  the  American  drinker  at 
75,000,000  gallons  yearly.  But  take  the  very  modest  esti- 
mate of  Dr.  Young,  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics,  who 
makes  the  following  estimate  of  the  sales  of  liquors  in  the 
fiscal  year  ending  June  1,  1871  : 

Whisky  (alone),  60,000,000  gallons  at  $6.00, 


at  retail $360,000,000 

Imported  spirits,  2,500,000  gallons  at  $10,  at 

retail 25,000,000 

Imported  wine,  10,700,000  gallons  at  $5.00,  at 

retail 53,500,000 

Ale,  beer  and  porter,  6,500,000  gallons  at 

$20.00  a barrel,  at  retail 130,000,000 

Native  wines,  brandies,  cordials,  estimated  . . 31,500,000 


Total $600,000,000 


"I  am  satisfied  that  this  is  much  below  the  real  amount,  but 
it  is  enough. 

"This  is  one  seventh  the  value  of  all  our  manufactures  for 
that  year,  more  than  one  fourth  that  of  farm  productions, 
betterments  and  stock,  as  shown  by  the  census. 

"Dr.  Hargreaves  estimates  the  retail  liquor  bill  of  1871  at 
$680,036,042.  In  1872,  as  shown  by  the  internal  revenue 
returns,  there  was  a total  of  domestic  and  foreign  liquors 
shown  into  the  hands  of  the  American  people  of  337,288,066 
gallons,  the  retail  cost  of  which  at  the  estimated  prices  of  Dr. 


222 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


Young  is  $735,720,048.  The  total  of  liquors  paying  tax  from 
1860  to  1872 — thirteen  years — was  2,762,926,066  gallons, 
costing  the  consumer  $6,780,161,805.  During  several  of 
these  years  the  government  was  largely  swindled  out  of  the 
tax,  so  that  no  mortal  knows  how  far  the  truth  lies  beyond 
these  startling  aggregates. 

"Dr.  Young  estimates  the  cost  of  liquors  in  1867  at  the  same 
as  in  1871 — $600,000,000 — and  exclaims  : 'It  would  pay  for 
100,000,000  barrels  of  Hour,  averaging  two  and  one  half  bar- 
rels to  every  man,  woman  and  child  in  the  country.’ 

"Such  facts  might  well  transform  the  mathematician  into  an 
exclamation  point.  Dr.  Hargreaves,  who  goes  into  all  the 
minutiae  of  the  demonstration,  dealing,  however,  only  with 
bureau  returns,  declares  that  the  annual  consumption  of  dis- 
tilled spirits  in  the  United  States  is  not  less  than  100,000,000 
gallons  annually,  and  this  makes  a very  small  allowance  for 
'crooked  whisky.’  Take  now  Dr.  Young’s  moderate  estimate 
of  $600,000,000  annually,  and,  relying  upon  the  official 
records  of  the  country,  in  sixteen  years  we  have  destroyed  in 
drink  $9,600,000,000 — more  than  four  times  the  amount  of 
the  national  debt,  and  once  and  a half  times  the  whole  cost  of 
the  War  of  the  Rebellion  to  all  sections  of  the  country,  while 
the  loss  of  life,  health,  spiritual  force  and  moral  power  to  the 
people  was  beyond  comparison  greater.  The  lowest  estimate 
I have  seen  of  the  annual  loss  of  life  directly  from  the  use  of 
intoxicating  liquor  is  60,000,  or  960,000  during  the  period 
above  mentioned  ; more  than  three  times  the  whole  loss  of  the 
North  by  battle  and  disease  in  the  war,  as  shown  by  the 
official  returns. 

" The  assessed  value  of  all  the  real  estate  in  the  United  States 
is  $9,914,780,825  ; of  personal,  $4,264,205,907.  In  twenty- 
five  years  we  drink  ourselves  out  of  the  value  of  our  country, 
personal  property  and  all. 

"The  census  shows  that  in  1870  the  state  of  New  York  spent 
for  liquors  $106,590,000;  more  than  two  fifths  of  the  value 
of  products  of  agriculture  and  nearly  one  seventh  the  value  of 
all  the  manufactures  and  nearly  two  thirds  of  the  wages  paid 
for  both  agriculture  and  manufactures,  the  liquor  bill  being 
little  less  than  twice  the  receipts  of  her  railroads.  The  liquor 
bill  of  Pennsylvania  in  1870  was  $65,075,000;  of  Illinois, 


ANNUAL  LOSS  TO  TIIE  NATION. 


223 


$42,825,000;  Ohio,  58,845,000;  Massachusetts,  25,195,000; 
New  Hampshire,  5,800,000;  Maine,  where  the  prohibitory 
law  is  better  enforced  than  anywhere  else,  4,215,000,  although 
Maine  has  twice  the  population  of  New  Hampshire. 

"Dr.  Hargreaves  says  that  there  was  expended  for  intoxi- 
cating drinks  in — 

1869  $693,999,509 

1870  619,425,110 

1871  ......  680,036,042 

1872  ......  735,726,048 


Total  ....  $2,729,186,709 


Annual  average  . . . $682,296,677 

And  he  says  the  average  is  larger  since  1872,  exceeding 
$700,000,000. 

"Each  family,  by  the  census,  averages  5.09  persons,  and  we 
spend  for  liquor  at  the  rate  of  $81.74  yearly  for  each.  The 
loss  to  the  nation  in  perverted  labor  is  very  great.  In  1872 
there  were  7,276  licensed  wholesale  liquor  establishments  and 
161,144  persons  licensed  to  sell  at  retail.  It  is  said  that  there 
are  as  many  more  unlicensed  retail  liquor  shops.  All  these 
places  of  traffic  must  employ  at  least  half  a million  of  men. 
There  were  then  3,132  distilleries,  which  would  employ  cer- 
tainly five  men  each — say  15,660.  The  brewers’  congress  in 
1874  said  that  there  were  employed  in  their  business  11,698. 
There  would  be  miscellaneously  employed  about  breweries 
and  distilleries  10,000  ; in  selling,  say  500,000.  In  all,  say 
550,000  able-bodied  men,  who,  so  far  as  distilled  liquors  are 
concerned  at  least,  constitute  a standing  army  constantly 
destroying  the  American  people.  They  create  more  havoc 
than  an  opposing  nation  which  should  maintain  a hostile  force 
of  half  a million  armed  men  constantly  making  war  against  us 
upon  our  own  soil.  The  temple  of  this  Janus  is  always  open. 
Why  should  we  thus  persevere  in  self-destruction? 

" There  are  600,000  habitual  drunkards  in  the  United 
States.  If  they  lose  half  their  time  it  would  be  a loss  of 
$150,000,000  to  the  nation  in  productive  power,  and  in  wages 
and  wealth  to  both  the  nation  and  themselves  every  year. 


224 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


Dr.  Hargreaves  lias  constructed  tlie  following  table  : 

The  yearly  loss  of  time  and  industry  of  545,624 

men  employed  in  liquor-making  and  selling  . $272,812,000 
Loss  of  time  and  industry  of  600,000  drunkards  150,000,000 
Loss  of  time  of  1,404,323  male  tipplers  . . 146,849,592 

Total  ......  $568,861,592 

And  he  adds  that  investigation  will  show  this  large  aggre- 

o o oo 

gate  is  far  below  the  true  loss. 

"By  this  same  process  40,000,000  bushels  of  nutritious 
grain  is  annually  destroyed,  equal  to  600,000,000  four-pound 
loaves  ; about  eighty  loaves  for  each  family  in  the  country. 

Dr.  Hitchcock,  President  of  Michigan  State  Board  of 
Health,  estimates  the  annual  loss  of  productive  life  by  reason 
of  premature  deaths  produced  by  alcohol  at  1,127,000  years, 
and  that  there  are  constantly  sick  or  disabled  from  its  use 
98,000  persons  in  this  country. 

Assuming  the  annual  producing  power  of  an 
able-bodied  person  to  be  $500  value,  and 
this  annual  loss  of  life  would  otherwise  be 
producing,  the  national  loss  is  the  im- 
mense sum  of  ....  $612,510,000  00 

Add  to  this  the  losses  by  the  misdirected 
industry  of  those  engaged  in  the  manu- 
facture and  sale ; loss  of  one  half  the 
time  of  the  600,000  drunkards  and  of  the 
tipplers,  as  their  number  is  estimated  by 
Dr.  Hargreaves 568,861,592  00 

And  we  have $1,181,371,592  00 

The  grain,  etc.,  destroyed 36,000,000  00 

$1,217,371,592  00 

Dr.  Hitchcock  estimates  the  number  of  in- 
sane, made  so  annually,  at  9,338,  or  loss 
in  effective  life  of  98,259  years,  at  $500 

per  year $49,129,500  00 

Number  of  idiots  from  same  cause,  an  an- 
nual loss  of  319,908  years  ....  159,954,000  00 


$1,426,455,092  00 


STATISTICS  SHOWING  LOSS  OF  TIME  AND  MONEY.  225 


Deduct  receipts  of  internal 

revenue  tax  (year  1875)  $61,225,995  53 
Receipts,  about  500,000 

state  licenses,  at  $100  50,000,000  00 

$ 111,225,995  53 

Annual  loss  to  the  nation  of  production  $1,315,229,096  47 
Annual  value  of  all  labor  in  the  United 

States,  as  per  census  of  1870  . . $1,263,984,003  00 

Losses  from  alcohol  in  excess  of  wages  of 

labor  yearly $51,245,093  47 

"This  calculation  includes  nothing  for  interest  upon  capital 
invested,  for  care  of  the  sick,  insane,  idiotic — it  allows  alco- 
hol credit  for  revenue  paid  on  all  which  is  used  for  legitimate 
purposes.  In  England  the  capital  invested  in  liquor  business 
is  $585,000,000,  or  £117,000,000.  It  was  proved  by  the 
liquor  dealers  before  the  committee  of  the  Massachusetts 
Legislature  in  1867  that  the  capital  invested  in  the  business 
in  Boston  was  at  least  $100,000,000,  and  in  the  whole  country 
it  cannot  be  less  than  $1,000,000,000,  or  ten  times  the  amount 
invested  in  Boston.  The  annual  value  of  imported  liquors  is 
about  $80,000,000.  It  may  lie  that  the  above  estimate  of 
losses  yearly  to  the  nation  is  too  high.  Perhaps  $500  is  more 
than  the  average  gross  earnings  of  an  able-bodied  man,  and 
there  may  be  other  errors  of  less  consequence.  But  any  gen- 
tleman is  at  liberty  to  divide  and  subdivide  the  dreadful  aggre- 
gate as  often  and  as  long  as  lie  pleases,  and  then  I would  ask 
him  what  good  reason  has  lie  to  give  why  the  nation  should 
lose  any  tiling  from  these  causes. 

PAUPERISM. 

"I  cannot  detain  the  House  with  full  statistics  from  the 
various  states  in  regard  to  the  pauperism  occasioned  by  alco- 
hol, but  not  less  than  130,000  widows  and  orphans  are  left 
such  in  our  country  annually  b\r  liquor  drinkers,  and  from  two 
thirds  to  four  fifths  of  the  inmates  of  our  poor-houses  are  sent 
there  by  drink. 

CRIME. 

"The  statistics  of  crime  are  even  more  astounding.  In  the 
report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education  for 
15 


226 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


1871,  page  541,  I find  this  statement:  'The  fourth  fact  is 
that  from  80  to  90  per  cent,  of  our  criminals  connect  their 
course  of  crime  with  intemperance.  Of  the  14,315  inmates 
of  the  Massachusetts  prisons,  12,396  are  reported  to  have 
been  intemperate,  or  84  per  cent.’  Ninety-three  per  cent, 
of  those  confined  in  Deer  Island  House  of  Industry  are  con- 
fined for  crimes  connected  with  liquor.  'In  the  New  Hamp- 
shire prison  65  out  of  91  admit  themselves  to  have  been 
intemperate.  Reports  from  every  state,  county  and  municipal 
prison  in  Connecticut  made  in  1871  show  that  more  than  90 
per  cent,  had  been  in  habits  of  drink  by  their  own  admission.’ 
The  warden  of  the  Rhode  Island  state-prison  estimates  90  per 
cent,  of  his  prisoners  as  drinkers.  These  relate  to  those  who 
have  been  guilty  of  the  more  serious  offenses,  not  mere 
every-day  arrests  for  drunkenness  and  disorderly  conduct. 

"The  report  of  the  Board  of  State  Charities  of  Pennsylvania 
for  1871  says,  page  89  : 'The  most  prolific  source  of  disease, 
poverty  and  crime,  observing  men  will  acknowledge  is  intem- 
perance.’ 

"Mr.  William  J.  Mullen,  the  well-known  and  highly-esteem- 
ed prison  agent,  in  his  report  for  1870,  says  : 'An  evidence  of 
the  bad  effects  of  this  unholy  business  may  be  seen  in  the  fact 
that  there  have  been  34  murders  within  this  city  (Philadelphia) 
during  the  last  year  alone,  each  one  of  which  was  traceable  to 
intemperance,  and  121  assaults  for  murder  proceeding  from 
the  same  cause.  Of  over  38,000  arrests  in  our  city  within  the 
year,  75  per  cent,  were  caused  by  intemperance.  Of  18,305 
persons  committed  to  our  prison  within  the  year,  more  than 
two  thirds  were  the  consequence  of  intemperence.’ 

"Judge  Allison,  in  a speech  delivered  in  Philadelphia  in 

1872,  says  : 'In  our  criminal  courts  Ave  can  trace  four  fifths  of 
the  crimes  that  are  committed  to  the  influence  of  rum.  There 
is  not  one  case  in  twenty  where  a man  is  tried  for  his  life  in 
which  rum  is  not  the  direct  or  indirect  cause  of  the  murder.’ 

"And  Philadelphia  is  the  city  of  brotherly  love.  She  is  ex- 
celled by  no  large  cipy  in  the  world  in  all  the  elements  and 
evidences  of  enlightened  Christian  civilization.  She  has 
immortalized  herself  in  our  centennial  year  by  a queenly 
majesty  of  municipal  deportment  and  a magnificence  of  pat- 
riotic hospitality  which  are  a source  of  love  and  pride  to  her 


SUGGESTIONS  FOR  A COMMITTEE  OF  INQUIRY. 


227 


countrymen  and  have  won  for  her  the  cordial  and  unstinted 
admiration  of  mankind.  And  it  is  a delightful  relief  for  my 
aching  head,  as  I copy  and  compile  these  statistics  of  dam- 
nation, to  record  the  illuminating  and  illustrative  fact  that 
on  those  centennial  grounds,  from  which  intoxicating  liquors- 
were  rigidly  excluded,  and  where  the  aesthetic  and  diviner 
cravings  of  humanity  were  fed  as  from  the  gardens  of  God, 
among  all  the  millions  who  -wandered  through  that  world  of 
the  last  and  highest  results  of  civilization  on  earth,  not  one 
arrest  was  made  for  intoxication  during  the  whole  term  of  the 
exhibition.  The  infinite  significance  of  that  philosophy  which 
not  only  demands  prohibitory  laws  to  restrain  evil,  but  also 
the  provision  of  food  for  the  mind  and  stimulants  to  all  the 
innocent,  enlarging  and  ennobling  tendencies  of  the  soul, 
could  not  be  more  strikingly  illustrated  and  enforced. 

"Mr.  Speaker,  the  records  of  New  York,  with  her  more  than 
ten  thousand  liquor  sliops,  one  half  of  which  are  unlicensed, 
and  which  Mr.  Oliver  Dyer  says  would  line  both  sides  of  a 
street  running  from  the  Battery  out  eight  miles  into  West- 
chester county,  having,  by  the  report  of  Superintendent 
Kennedy,  made,  some  years  since,  an  average  of  134  visits 
each  daily,  with  50,844  arrests  for  intoxication  and  disorderly 
conduct  in  the  single  year  1868,  and  with  98,861  arrests  for 
crimes  of  every  description,  nine  tenths  of  which  were  the 
result  of  drink;  all  these  I have  examined,  but  I have  no 
heart  to  dwell  upon  them.  I cannot  endure  their  longer  con- 
templation. The  mathematics  of  this  infinite  evil  are  only 
paralleled  by  the  tremendous  calculations  of  astronomy,  and 
as  I quit  the  appalling  theme  I feel  as  though  I had  been 
calculating  eclipses  on  the  firmament  of  the  pit. 

"If  we  can  do  no  more  for  this  agonized  land,  groaning  and 
travailing  in  despair,  than  to  institute  the  commission  of 
inquiry  into  the  statistical  evidences  which  are  waiting  every- 
where for  proper  authentication,  and  a bill  for  which,  having 
passed  the  Senate,  reposes  in  the  embrace  of  a committee  of 
this  House,  we  shall  have  accomplished  something  for  which 
the  ages  to  come  will  rise  up  to  bless  our  memory  ; for  I sin- 
cerely believe  that  nothing  is  required  to  work  out  our  salva- 
tion from  the  great  evil  which  we  are  considering  but  authentic 
knowledge,  generally  diffused  among  the  people.  In  the 


228 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


pressure  of  the  momentous  affairs  by  which  we  are  surrounded, 
I have  not  been  able  to  summarize  and  classify  as  I would 
otherwise  have  done  this  statement  of  such  facts  as  appear  to 
me  to  be  derived  from  reliable  sources  ; but  I have  done  the 
best  I could,  hoping  that  abler  minds  will  turn  their  attention 
to  the  subject,  and  that  Congress  w ill  no  longer  neglect  to 
institute  official  inquiries,  with  a view  to  such  ultimate  legal 
action  as  may  arrest  an  evil  which,  if  not  arrested,  will  go  far 
to  destroy  the  American  people. 

BEARING  or  THE  SUBJECT  UPON  THE  EDUCATION  OF  THE  PEOPLE. 

"Some  paper  has  sneeringly  alluded  to  this  proposed  amend- 
ment as  a measure  of  temperance  reform  for  posterity.  Chiefly 
so  it  is  ; and  all  the  voices  of  humanity  cry  out  for  its  adop- 
tion. All  thinking  men  admit  that  the  condition  of  posterity 
depends  upon  intelligence  and  virtue,  and  these  are  trans- 
mitted and  developed  by  the  educational  institutions  and  proc- 
esses of  the  country,  of  which  by  far  the  most  important  is 
the  common  school ; and  over  that  alone  has  the  government 
any  control.  Contrast  for  a moment  the  means  of  education 
in  virtue  and  intelligence  with  those  which  exist  for  the  pro- 
motion of  vice  and  crime  and  misery  in  this  country,  and  then 
let  those  sneer  who  will  at  a measure  which  aims  to  save 
posterity  from  the  fate  which,  if  there  is  no  reform,  will  over- 
take us  in  national  life,  just  as  surely  as  the  time  finally  comes 
when  the  individual  inebriate,  whether  in  the  horrors  of 
delirium  or  the  stupidity  of  the  consumed  sot,  drops  into  the 
tomb  of  despair. 

The  census  of  1870  show  that  there  are  in  the  United  States 
141,629  schools,  with  221.042  teachers  and  7,209,938  pupils 
who  attend  in  the  aggregate — the  average  is  less — costing 
$95,402,826.  Of  these,  125,059  are  public  schools,  with 
183,198  teachers,  6,228,060  pupils,  costing  $64,030,673 
yearly. 

There  are  12,955,443  between  the  ages  of  5 and  18  years 
who  should  be  at  school,  leaving  4,845,505  Avho  do  not 
attend  at  all.  About  740.000  of  these  are  engaged  in  labor 
of  some  kind  ; but  there  must  be  more  than  3.000,000  who 
do  not  <ro  to  school  at  all.  Dr.  Hargreaves  says  that  ninety- 

O ZD  J J 


Mrs.  N.  H.  Knox , 

President  W.  C.  T.  U.,  of  New  Hampshire. 


OUR  NATION’S  DRINK  BILL. 


229 


nine  hundreths  of  them  are  children  of  the  intemperate,  and 
he  makes  the  following  tabular  statement  showing  the  relative 
efficiency  of  the  " two  educational  systems,”  as  they  are 
operated  in  Pennsylvania,  whose  condition  is  not  discreditable 
in  comparison  with  the  country  at  large  : 

EDUCATION  IN  KNOWLEDGE  AND  VIRTUE. 


Schools,  colleges,  etc.,  in  Pennsylvania  . . 10,090 

Professors  and  teachers  . . . . . 18,783 

Pupils  and  students,  etc.,  in  regular  attendance  . 542,070 

Cost  for  educational  purposes  in  Pennsylvania  $8,399,723 

EDUCATION  IN  IMMORALITY  AND  VICE. 

Drinking  places  in  Pennsylvania  . . . 23,006 

Persons  employed  in  liquor  shops  . . . 45,490 

Tipplers  and  drunkards  .....  802,604 

Direct  cost  of  liquors  in  Pennsylvania  . . $80,000,000 

More  than  nine  times  as  much  money  spent  to  destroy  as 


there  is  to  save  'posterity’  by  these  two  systems.  And 
again  he  says  : 'Though  within  the  last  20  years  our  teachers 
have  increased  from  25  to  30  per  cent.,  and  pupils  attending 
school  more  than  50  per  cent.,  yet  crime  has  increased  more 
than  60  per  cent.’” 

CENSUS  RETURNS  OF  1880,  AND  OTHER  EVIDENCE. 

There  is  no  department  of  the  temperance  work  where  the 
voice  of  Dr.  Hargreaves  is  not  heard.  The  following  state- 
ment by  him  is  worth  many  volumes.  It  is  based  upon  the 
last  census  and  is  the  best  epitome  of  its  lessons  upon  the 
waste  and  woe  of  the  liquor  traffic  which  I have  seen.  I omit 
a few  passages  which  previous  matter  renders  superfluous. 

our  nation’s  drink  bill,  and  some  consequential  results. 

The  effects  of  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks,  and  the  traffic  in 
them,  upon  society  are  many  sided — social,  moral,  religious  and 
economical.  The  social  relations  are  visible  everywhere,  and  chiefly 
the  effects  of  drunkenness  on  the  family.  The  family  is  the  source 
and  foundation  of  all  society.  Drinks  mar  or  destroy  family  life. 
No  sorrow  or  cruelty  is  absent  from  the  blunted  affections  and 
inflamed  passions  caused  by  drink  ; turning  life’s  blessings  into 
curses.  The  drink,  by  the  poverty  it  produces  and  vile  passions 
it  arouses,  makes  the  family  almost  impossible ; and  the  social 


230 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


decay  it  causes  is  seen  everywhere  in  the  decline  of  physical 
health.  The  very  children,  from  the  drink,  inherit  diseased  or 
weak  bodies  and  brains  from  their  parents. 

Social  well-being  is  hindered,  and  its  very  existence  endangered 
by  drink  blunting  and  blinding  the  conscience.  The  judges, 
magistrates  and  criminals  all  unite  in  their  declarations  of  the  close 
relation  of  drink  and  crime.  Eight}'-two  per  cent,  of  crime  in 
Suffolk  county,  Mass.,  was  traced  to  drink.  Nothing  so  blunts  the 
moral  sentiments  and  destroys  the  influence  of  religious  teachings  as 
drink.  But  in  this  paper  it  is  designed  to  examine  briefly  the 
economical  and  statistical  aspect. 

BRINK-SHOPS  AND  DWELLINGS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

In  the  United  States  in  1880,  there  were  8,955,812  dwellings,  of 
which  1G3,522  were  taxed  retail  liquor  places,  and  11,610  taxed 
retail  malt  liquor  shops,  or  a total  of  175,133  drinking  places  taxed 
to  sell  liquors  by  retail.  These-drink  shops,  if  placed  together, 
would  make  a city  with  more  dwellings  than  there  are  in  Philadel- 
phia (146,412)  and  Pittsburgh  (24,280)  combined,  and  as  many 
dwellings  remain  as  will  make  another  city  as  large  as  Sacramento, 
California;  or  they  would  make  four  cities  as  large  as  St.  Louis, 
Mo.,  or  two  cities  larger  than  New  York.  Indeed,  they  would 
make  a city  with  more  dwellings  than  New  York  city,  Brooklyn, 
Albany  and  Syracuse,  and  1,307  dwellings  to  spare. 

The  drink-shops  of  the  United  States,  if  arranged  in  one  street, 
allowing  each  a frontage  of  thirty  feet,  would  form  a street  with 
drink-shops  on  each  side  497  miles  long,  nearly  from  Philadelphia 
to  Cleveland,  Ohio  ; or,  placed  side  by  side,  would  extend  on  each 
side  of  the  railroad  track  from  Philadelphia  nearly  to  Cleveland. 

INDIRECT  COST  AND  LOSS  AND  DIRECT  COST  OF  DRINKS. 

It  is  estimated  that  the  indirect  cost  and  loss  from  the  mischiefs 
arising  from  the  use  of  the  drinks,  viz.  : Pauperism,  crime,  disease, 
etc.,  amounts  to  fully  as  much  as  the  direct  cost  of  drinks.  This  is 
doubtless  true,  as  shown  by  the  following  estimates  of  the  indirect 
costs  and  losses  flowing  from  the  liquor  traffic  in  the  United  States 
in  18S0 : 

Loss  of  productive  labor  of  586,472  persons  in  the 


liquor  trades $2S3, 236,000 

Loss  of  productive  labor  of  700,000  drunkards,  175,000,000 

Loss  of  productive  labor  of  2,138,391  moderate 

drinkers 222.392,664 


Amount  carried  forward, 8680,628,664 


ANNUAL  COST  AND  LOSS. 


231 


Amount  brought  forward, $680,628,604 

Loss  of  66,660,792  bushels  of  grain  destroyed  in 

breweries  and  distill. lies 33,330,390 

Loss  of  time  and  cost  of  medical  attendance  and 

medicine  in  sickness  caused  by  drinks  ....  119,368,576 

Loss  to  employers  by  time  lost  by  drinking  work- 
men   10,000,000 

Cost  of  supporting  S3, 899  defective  persons  by 

drink  as  insane,  etc.,  etc 16,779,800 

Cost  of  supporting  59,110  paupers  made  such  by 

drink,  at  $100  a year, 5,911,000 

Loss  of  labor  of  59,110  paupers  and  vagrants,  at 

$300  per  annum,  17,733,000 

Cost  of  supporting  39,4S1  prisoners  at  $100  a year,  3,948,300 

Loss  of  labor  of  39,481  prisoners  at  $300  a year,  11,844,300 

Cost  of  police,  prosecutions,  court  expenses,  losses 

by  jurors,  witnesses,  etc 15,000,000 


Total  indirect  cost  and  loss  from  use  of  drink,  $924,544,036 
Annual  average  cost  of  liquors  of  3 years  (1880-1-2)  SOS, 198, 130 


Total  annual  direct  cost  of  drinks  and  loss,  etc.,  $1,727,742,166 

These  estimates  of  the  annual  cost  and  loss  are  only  approxi- 
mations, yet  they  are  doubtless  below  the  real  cost,  as  every  one  at 
all  acquainted  with  the  subject  will  testify.  Seventeen  hundred 
million  dollars  annually  for  vice,  crime,  demoralization,  impoverish- 
ment, misery,  disease  and  death  ! In  the  words  of  The  Times 
(London)  in  a leader,  “ Drinking  baffles  us,  confounds  us,  shames 
us  at  every  point.  It  outwits  alike  the  teacher,  the  man  of  busi- 
ness, the  patriot  and  legislator.  Every  other  institution  flounders 
in  hopeless  difficulties,  the  public  house  holds  its  triumphant 
course !” 

The  above  applies  to  the  United  States  as  fully  as  to  England. 

ESTIMATED  EXPENDITURES  FOR  NECESSARIES  OF  LIFE. 

The  value  of  articles  of  general  consumption  used  in  the  United 
States  will  be  about  their  value  at  the  place  of  production  ; for 
by  comparing  the  value  of  articles  of  common  use  imported  and 
exported,  the  imported  only  exceed  the  value  of  exported  by  a few 
million  dollars  ; not  more  perhaps  than  the  value  of  articles  remain- 
ing in  stores  and  warehouses,  etc.,  unsold.  We  will  therefore 
estimate  that  our  people  expend  annually  for  necessaries  of  life  as 
appears  in  the  diagram,  p.  132  : 


232 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT, 


EXPENDITURES  FOR  NECESSARIES  OF  LIFE. 


233 


Recapitulation  : 

For  food  and  food  preparations, 

$963,000,000 

Bread.,  etc.,  ..... 

302,000.000 

Butter  and  cheese,  .... 

186,000,000 

Sugar,  etc.,  ..... 

234,000,000 

Coffee,  tea,  cocoa,  etc.. 

145,000,000 

Articles  of  wear  (men  and  women) , 

482,000,000 

Textiles,  ...... 

437,000,000 

Cotton  goods,  ..... 

210,000,000 

Woolen  goods,  ..... 

160,000,000 

Boots  and  shoes,  .... 

196,000,000 

Worsted  goods,  ..... 

33,000,000 

Carpets,  ...... 

31,000,000 

Cost  of  liquors  in  1883, 

944,629,581 

Wages  paid  for  mechanical  and  manufac- 
turing industries,  . ... 

947,953,795 

Expenditures  for  drinks  (an  average  of  3 
years,  ’SO  to  ’82), 

S03, 000,000 

The  cost  of  drink  for  1882  was  875  million  dollars.  Tims : 

There  was  spent  for  drink  nearly  three  times  as  much  as  for 
bread,  and  nearly  as  much  as  for  all  kinds  of  food. 

Drink  costs  over  four  times  more  than  for  butter  and  cheese. 

We  spend  nearly  four  times  as  much  for  drink  as  for  sugar, 
etc.  ; and  coffee,  tea,  cocoa  and  chocolate  cost  a little  more  than 
one  sixth  the  cost  of  drink. 

Articles  of  wear  cost  a little  more  than  half  the  cost  of  drink. 

All  textiles  of  1880  cost  about  one  half  the  cost  of  drink  in  ’82. 

Cotton  goods  cost  about  one  fourth  that  of  drink. 

Drinks  cost  five  times  as  much  as  woolen  goods. 

We  spent  four  times  more  for  drink  than  for  boots  and  shoes. 

Twelve  times  more  was  paid  for  drink  than  for  worsted  goods 
and  carpets. 

Drinks  cost  in  1883  only  about  three  millions  less  than  was  paid 
for  wages  in  1880  for  mechanical  and  manufacturing  industries. 

By  spending  one  hundred  dollars  for  the  aggregate  manufactures 
of  the  United  States,  by  the  census  1880,  $14.20  goes  to  labor; 
$100  spent  for  boots  and  shoes,  $21.71  is  for  labor;  for  clothing, 
$17.42;  for  furniture,  upholstery,  etc.,  $23.71;  for  hardware, 
$24.17;  for  cotton  goods,  $10.91;  woolen  goods,  $12.86;  for 
worsted  goods,  $13.55:  and  for  men’s  furnishing  goods,  $18.34; 
while  $109  spent  for  liquors  will  only  give  to  labor  $1.23.  To 
average  a day’s  work  at  $2,  one  hundred  dollars  spent  for  boots 
and  shoes  will  give  one  person  work  for  10oVo  days ; for  cloth- 


234 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


ing,  Sj7^  clays;  for  furniture,  etc.,  llJJ-t-  days;  for  hardware, 
123y5  days;  for  cotton  goods,  S-gfo  clays;  for  woolen  goods,  6T403(j- 
days  ; for  worsted  goods,  64§-{}  days  ; and  for  men’s  furnishing 
goods,  95304ff  days  ; while  one  hundred  dollars  spent  for  liquor  will 
only  give  one  man  work  for  a little  over  TG0-  of  a day,  or  a little 
over  a half-day.  It  must  be  clear  to  every  one  that  to  spend 
money  for  intoxicating  drinks  inflicts  serious  injury  on  the  trade  and 
industry  of  the  country  and  deprives  our  laboring  classes  of  work 
and  wages.  "Workmen ! the  drink  question  is  more  important  to 
you  than  the  tariff  or  anj1  other  question  before  the  country.  Abolish 
the  drink  traffic,  and  there  will  be  work  and  good  wages  for  all. 

LOSS  BY  THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  FOOD. 

The  grain  and  other  products  destroyed  by  the  brewers  and 
distillers  to  produce  drink  (articles  unfit  to  nourish  the  human 
body)  are  a total  loss.  To  make  intoxicating  drinks,  over  sixty- 
.six  million  bushels  of  the  various  kinds  of  grain  are  destroyed 
annually.  In  1882,  there  was  destroyed  in  distilleries  2,192,719 
bushels  of  malt ; 301,241  bushels  of  wheat;  4, 228, GG9  bushels  of 
lye ; 20,051.239  bushels  corn;  1GS,488  bushels  oats;  452,330 
bushels  mill  feed,  and  2,121.804*  gallons  of  molasses.  There  were 
destroyed  in  breweries  39,201,697  bushels  of  barley.  Total  grain 
destroyed  in  distilleries  and  breweries  G6,GG0,792  bushels,  which  at 
fifty  cents  a bushel  would  be  worth  $33,330,396.  The  average 
weight  of  grain  used  for  liquors  is  about  fifty-three  lbs.  per  bushel, 
and  yields  forty  lbs.  of  flour,  makes  sixty  lbs.  of  bread,  or  fifteen 
four-pouud  loaves.  The  G6  million  bushels  would  give  a grand  total 
of  990,000,000  four-pouncl  loaves  of  bread,  or  more  than  991  loaves 
for  each  family  in  the  United  States  in  1880.  This  does  not 
include  the  grain  destroyed  in  making  the  imported  liquors  used, 
nor  the  native  wines,  30,000,000  gallons,  as  given  in  the  Report  of 
Agriculture,  1880,  but  onl}T  liquors  paying  tax  as  per  Internal 
Revenue  Report  for  1882.  These  loaves  used  as  paving  stones 
would  pave  a street  fifteen  hundred  miles  long,  or  a road  along  the 
line  of  the  railroad  longer  than  from  Boston  to  Omaha,  Nebraska. 

The  drink  not  only  ruins  our  people  financially,  but  undermines 
virtue,  blunts  the  conscience,  effaces  memory,  enfeebles  under- 
standing, dethrones  reason,  and  destroys  life.  It  is  certainly  bad 
to  destroy  the  grain,  but  it  is  very  much  worse  to  destroy  the  grain 
.and  ruin  the  people  also.  It  is  a sin  and  a crime  to  destroy  food 
even  when  enough  is  left  to  feed  the  people.  The  food  annually 
destroyed  would  feed  not  less  than  three  millions  of  our  people. 

*The  average  yield  of  grain  was  3,G94  gallons  spirits  per  bushel — one 
gallon  molasses  yielded  .7S1  of  a gallon  of  spirits.  See  Internal  Revenue 
Report,  1SS1.  p.  lix. 


GRAIN  DESTROYED  IN  DISTILLERIES. 


235 


Every  bushel  of  grain  made  into  liquor  increases  the  price  of  what 
remains.  Dear  bread  means  bad  trade.  When  people  have  to 
pay  all,  or  nearly  all,  they  earn  for  food,  they  cannot  buy  clothing 
and  other  necessaries.  It  is  the  same  in  the  end  whether  66  million 
bushels  of  food  are  destroyed  in  breweries  and  distilleries  or  rot  in 
the  fields  by  rain  and  mildew,  and  cut  down  by  grasshoppers.  You 
may  say  the  farmer  gets  his  money  for  the  grain,  and  it  employs 
labor  and  consumes  products,  etc.  True.  If  I buy  a barrel  of 
flour  for  $5,  and  then  throw  it  into  the  river,  I cause  a consumption 
of  products.  It  is  wasted,  you  say.  How  so?  I paid  the  flour 
merchant — he  paid  the  miller — the  miller  paid  his  men  their  wages 
—the  farmer  receives  his  money  for  the  wheat,  and  the  money  is 
circulated.  But  you  answer,  you  have  not  the  barrel  of  flour  you 
paid  for — you  have  nothing  for  your  money.  There’s  the  point! 
Neither  the  buyer  nor  consumer  receives  value  for  the  money  paid 
for  liquor.  It  is  an  entirel}7  useless  commodity,  and  hence  the 
materials  used  in  its  manufacture  are  destroyed  ; the  labor  employed 
to  produce  the  drink,  and  the  money  paid  for  it,  are  entirely  lost. 
With  the  destruction  of  the  flour  or  grain  the  loss  ends  ; but  with 
money  spent  for  drink  there  begins  another  series  of  losses — finan- 
cial, physical,  mental  and  moral — the  least  of  which  is  the  money 
paid  for  liquors.  Therefore,  if  the  grain  was  simply  destroyed 
without  being  made  into  liquors,  it  would  be  vastly  better  for  our 
people.  No  nation  can  practice  such  waste  and  continue  to 
prosper. 

MONEY  SPENT  FOR  DRINKS  AND  OTHER  PURPOSES. 

There  has  been  spent  for  intoxicating  drinks  during  this  century 
(from  1800  to  1883)  more  than  twenty  one  thousand  million 
dollars  (21,683,959,223),  which  is  over  four  thousand  million 
dollars  more  than  all  imports  into  and  over  six  thousand  million 
more  than  all  imports  from  the  country  within  the  same  period. 
In  the  three  years  from  1880  to  1882  (inclusive),  over  two  thou- 
sand four  hundred  millions  were  spent  for  drinks,  or  a little  less 
than  all  our  exports,  and  about  four  hundred  million  dollars  more 
than  all  our  foreign  imports.  These  three  years  drink  bill  was  two 
hundred  millions  more  than  the  value  of  all  our  agricultural  prod- 
ucts (§2,213,402,564)  in  1880.  Our  last  year’s  (1883)  drink  bill 
($944,629,5S1)  was  only  about  three  millions  less  than  all  the 
wages  paid  in  1880  for  all  manufacturing  and  mechanical  industries 
($947,953,795),  and  only  about  nineteen  millions  less  than  the 
estimated  expenditures  for  food  ($963,000,000)  in  1880. 

The  value  of  the  products  of  all  manufacturing  and  mechanical 
industries  of  the  United  States  in  1880  ($5,369,579,191)  was  154  mil- 
lion dollars  more  than  our  last  six  years  drink  bill  ($5,204,927,246). 


23  G 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


Our  last  ten  years  drink  bill  ($7,200,598,304)  was  only  336 
millions  less  than  the  value  ($7,572,981,758)  of  all  our  agricultural 
products  and  all  the  products  of  our  mechanical  and  manufacturing 
ndustries  in  1SS0. 

Our  people  in  less  than  three  years  spent  in  drink  the  value  of 
all  our  products  of  agriculture,  and  in  about  104-  years  expended 
the  value  of  all  the  productive  industries  of  the  country.  In  other 
words,  if  a lire  was  kindled  on  the  first  of  January  every  eleventh 
year,  and  continue  burning  during  that  year — if  every  article  as 
fast  as  produced  in  all  our  factories,  workshops  and  mines,  and  all 
our  farm  products,  as  fast  as  gathered,  were  thrown  into  this  fire, 
and  burned  up  until  only  the  ashes  remained,  such  destruction  of 
the  products  of  labor  would  not  do  as  much  harm  nor  inflict  upon 
our  people  as  much  pecuniary  injury  as  is  produced  every  eleven 
years  by  the  use  of  and  the  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks.  To  destroy 
annually  the  products  of  our  factories,  workshops  and  farms  of 
the  value  of  the  money  spent  for  drink,  by  fire  or  flood,  would  be 
a great  loss,  and  cries  of  woe  and  sorrow  would  be  heard  all  over 
our  land.  Yet  this  destruction  would  not  deprive  our  people  of  the 
ability  and  power  to  supply  their  loss  with  other  products,  as  do 
the  drinks  for  which  the  money  is  spent. 

The  assessed  value  of  the  real  and  personal  property  of  the 
United  States  in  1880  was  $16,902,993,543,  and  the  real  value 
about  double  that  amount,  or  $33,S05,9S7,0SG.  We  spent  during 
the  present  century  (from  1800  to  18S3  inclusive)  nearly  22 
thousand  million  dollars  ($21,683,959,223),  or  more  than  two 
thirds  the  real  value  of  all  the  property,  real  and  personal,  that 
has  accumulated  in  the  nation  since  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers  on  Plymouth  Rock. 

If  the  real  cost  of  liquors  and  the  consequential  results  of  their 
use  could  be  ascertained  since  the  Declaration  of  Independence  of 
the  United  States,  it  would  doubtless  be  found  that  more  money 
has  been  spent  than  would  buy  to-day  all  our  farms,  factories, 
workshops,  mines,  railroads,  houses,  furniture,  clothing,  stores, 
warehouses,  and  everything  they  contained,  with  breweries,  dis- 
tilleries and  liquor  shops  thrown  in.  If  the  money  spent  since  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  for  drink  had  been  spent  for  useful 
and  necessary  articles,  the  real  and  personal  property  would  doubt- 
less be  nearly  double  what  it  now  is,  our  people  more  intelli- 
gent, moral  and  religious,  and  our  industrious  classes  free  from  the 
taxation  imposed  for  charities  and  corrections. 

The  ten  years  drink  bill  (from  1S70  to  1879)  was  $6,706,913,406, 
or  fifteen  hundred  millions  more  than  the  permanent  investment 
($5,182,445,S07)  in  all  the  87,891  miles  of  railroads  operated  in 


DR.  HARGREAVES’  DIAGRAM. 


237 


1S80.  Our  drink  bill  ($5,567,52.070)  for  the  eight  years  from 
1S75  to  1882  inclusive,  was  385  millions  more  than  the  investment 
in  all  the  railroads  in  the  country.  The  drink  bill  of  1880 
($733, G1 6,495)  was  72  millions  more  than  the  agscrenate  income 
($661,295,391)  of  all  the  railroads  in  the  nation  that  year. 

No  people,  however  favored,  can  continue  to  prosper  who  waste  so 
large  a proportion  of  labor  value  for  poisonous  drinks.  No  wonder 
that  hard  times  and  stagnation  of  trade  should  follow  such  waste 
and  the  violation  of  economic  laws. 

I here  insert  another  of  Dr.  Hargreaves’  diagrams,  some- 
what similar  to  the  last,  hut  conveying  other  facts  and  com- 
parisons to  the  mind.  These  diagrams,  conveying  instruction 
through  the  eye,  let  in  a Hood  of  light,  and  a most  startling 
landscape  of  waste,  folly  and  misery  it  is. 

DU.  IIAKG HEAVES’  DIAGRAM,  COMPARING  EXPENDITURES  FOR  INTOXICAT- 
ING DRINK  IN  1S$3,  WITH  CHIEF  ITEMS  OF  EXPENDITURES  FOR  NECES- 
SARIES OF  LIFE  IN  1SS0. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


ALCOHOL  DESTROYS-  THE  LIFE  AND  WEALTH  OF  THE  WORLD. 

The  Fate  of  all  Civilized  Nations  Affected  by  the  Liquor  Traffic — Con- 
sumption of  Spirits  in  the  United  Kingdom — The  Amount  per  Capita 
—Money  enough  Spent  for  Liquor  from  1831  to  1881  to  Purchase  the 
Entire  United  Kingdom— The  Case  in  France — The  Use  of  Liquor 
Doubled  in  Forty  Years — Report  to  the  French  Government — The  Home 
of  the  American  Despot  — Telling  Facts  and  Figures  Showing  the 
Vast  Extent  of  the  Traffic  — Germany,  Russia,  Persia,  the  World. 

r ihe  unity  of  the  human  race  is  the  great  social  and  polit- 


ical fact.  God  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  men  that  do 


dwell  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  That  unity  is  true  not  only 
of  all  the  living,  but  hereditary  influence  largely  controls 
posterity  ; so  that  every  individual  man  is  affected  by  the 
total  of  all  that  has  been  done  or  suffered  by  all  nations  and 
all  individuals  who  have  already  existed,  and  he  is  responsible 
according  to  the  measure  of  his  powers  and  opportunity  for 
the  condition  of  all  who  are  to  be  unto  the  end  of  time. 

Especially  is  it  true  that  the  fate  of  all  civilized  nations  is 
vitally  affected  by  the  liquor  traffic,  and  that  they  suffer  from 
a common  evil  which  united  action  alone  can  cure.  TUe  may 
feel  a special  interest  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  by  reason  of 
our  common  origin,  language,  history,  literature  and  institu- 
tions. But  the  rapidly  increasing  facilities  of  inter-communi- 
cation and  of  interchange  of  person,  property  and  intelligence 
are  rapidly  abolishing  all  barriers  and  distinctions.  Railroads, 
telegraphs  and  telephones  are  everywhere.  They  unite  the 
woild  as  by  a universal  emotion.  They  make  their  own  con- 
ditions ; reduce  all  things  to  homogeneity,  and  dominate  wher- 
ever they  arc,  as  the  light  rules  the  day.  It  is  clear  to  one 
who  can  see,  that  Asia  and  Africa  will  soon  arise  from  the 
sleep  of  ages,  break  loose  from  the  chains  of  the  past  and  unite 
their  billion  of  inhabitants  with  the  more  advanced  western 
nations.  Not  many  centuries  and  perhaps  not  many  decades 
hence,  the  grand  federation  of  all  nations,  tongues  and  peoples 


238 


ALCOHOL  THE  FOE  OF  CIVILIZATION. 


239' 


under  the  whole  heavens,  which  is  the  ultimate  destiny  of  man, 
will  be  an  accomplished  fact.  Alcohol  is  the  special  foe  of 
civilized  man;  and,  if  destroyed,  it  must  be  by  the  assertion 
ot  the  power  of  the  whole  over  the  evil  wherever  it  exists  ; 
and  that  exertion  of  international  power  must  reach  the 
manufacture,  the  transportation  and  the  sale.  The  appetite 
of  the  world  will  contrive  to  be  satisfied,  so  long  as  the  thing 
it  craves  exists  within  its  borders.  True  that  the  most  im- 
portant of  all  action  is  by  each  nation  within  and  for  itself,  and 
by  exclusion  of  the  hurtful  commodity  from  its  territory. 

But,  so  long  as  the  appetite  and  the  manufacture  exist,  so 
long  smuggling  and  all  forms  of  illicit  trade  will  to  some 
extent  perpetuate  the  evil  in  spite  of  the  most  stringent  local 
and  national  restrictions.  International  action  cannot  be  ex- 
pected until  the  nations,  one  after  the  other,  comprehend  their 
reciprocal  danger.  Then  they  will  assail  the  liquor  traffic  by 
the  treaty-making  power,  which,  combined  with  moral  suasion, 
the  forerunner  and  creator  of  all  right  sentiment  and  correct 
action,  and  with  state  and  national  laws,  will  in  the  end  con- 
quer, if  it  can  be  conquered — and  it  can  be — this  chief  foe  of 
man.  We  are  therefore  interested  to  know  to  what  extent 
this  evil  prevails  beyond  our  own  domain,  and  the  prospect 
of  its  prevalence  or  extinction  in  the  rest  of  the  world. 

The  United  Kingdom  naturally  first  claims  our  attention. 
The  following  tables,  furnished  to  me  as  the  best  attainable 
by  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  are  the  latest  I have  been  able  to 
secure,  and  are  sufficiently  comprehensive  to  convey  to  the 
mind  a reasonably  accurate  idea  in  figures  of  the  state  of  the 
liquor  traffic  in  England,  Scotland  and  Ireland. 

Annual  Consumption  of  Wine  and  the  Average  Consumption  per  Capita 
of  Population  in  the  United  Kingdom  during  Each  Year,  from  1SSI 
to  1SS5,  Inclusive. 

[From  the  accounts  relating  to  the  trade  and  navigation  of  the  United  Kingdom.] 


YEARS. 


Wine  consumed.* 


Total. 

Per  capita. 

Gallons. 
14,925.055 
34,:;  ] 7.320 
14  1.14.202 
r;.?92,600 
13,425,2s" 

Gallons. 

.43 

.41 

.40 

.30 

.37 

1882..- 

1SS3 

The  consumption  is  the  net  imports. 


240 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


Annual  Consumption  of  Domestic  and  Foreign  Distilled  Spirits  and  tiie 
Average  Consumption  per  Capita  of  Population  in  the  United  King- 
dom during  Each  Year,  from  1S71  to  1SS5,  Inclusive. 

[From  the  “ Statistical  Abstract  for  the  United  Kingdom,”  1SS5.] 


YEARS. 


1871  

1872  

1573  

1574  

187S 

187(1 

1877  

1878  

1S79 

1880 

1881 

1882 

1888 

1884 

18S5 


Distilled  spirits  consumed. 


Domestic. 


Gallons. 

24,503, 903 

27  279,519 

29,322,08 

30,321,928 

30,059,0-43 

30,534,205 


30,301,103 
29.884,931 
28,508,850 
29,047.303 
29,334.101 
29,251,754 
29,421.590 
2 -'',745,893 
27.34S, 8 05 


Foreign. 


Total. 


Gallons. 
10.72S.545 
8,081,303 
11,872,190 
10,332,707 
12,950,833 
17,794,490 
10,492,759 
9,310,520 
10.459,768 
6,970,499 
5,543,9051 
8.382 ,938' 
7,217,068 
9,155.981 
9,282,951 1 


Per  capita. 


Gallons. 

35.292,538 
35,300,822 
41,194,283 
40,054,095 
43,015.870 
48,328,701 
40,853,922 
39,201,477 
38,908,018 
30,017,802 
34, $78,000 
37,634,692 
30,038,059 
37,901,874 
36,631,756 


Gallons. 
1.12 
1.11 
1.23 
1.25 
1.33 
1.40 
1.22 
1 15 
1.14 

1.04 
1.00 
1.07 
1.03 

1 .05 
1.01 


Annual  Consumption  of  Domestic  and  Foreign  Beer  and  the  Average  Con 
sumption  pint  Capita  of  Population  in  the  United  Kingdom,  during 
Each  Year,  from  18S1  to  1885,  Inclusive. 

[From  the  statistical  abstract  for  the  United  Kingdom  and  the  account  relating  to  the 
trade  and  na  vigation  of  the  United  Kingdom.] 


YEARS. 


1SS1. 

1882 

1883. 

1884. 
18S5. 


*The  British  beer  barrel 
1.22  United  States  gallons. 


Beer  consumed.* 


Domestic. 

Foreign. 

Total. 

Per  capita. 

Gallons. 

Gallons. 

Gallons. 

Gallons. 

1.184.302,043 

f>72.f>S5 

1 ,184,934.633 

33.1)0 

1,186,877,214 

763,712 

I , i 87.64.3 ,1)26 

33.65 

1-178,287.517 

918.411 

l,I75),20o.92S‘ 

33.13 

1.211,000  222 

1,028. 70S 

1,212  G2>,9;;a 

33.73 

1,190,286,373 

983.632 

1,191,270,005 

32.79 

lias  been  computed  at  36  gallons  and  the  ale  gallon  at 


From  these  tables  it  appears  that  if  tve  take  the  aggregate 
of  distilled  and  fermented  drinks,  reducing  the  latter  to  dis- 
tilled, as  in  the  former  calculation  in  ascertaining  the  per 
capita  consumption  of  alcohol  (see  p.  201),  the  population  of 
the  British  Isles  consumed  per  capita  in  1885  as  follows  : 

Gallons 

Distilled  spirits  ....  36,631.756 

Wines,  13,425,287  gallons  -s-  5 = spirits  2,685.057 
Beer,  1,191,270,005  “ ^ 5 = 234,254.001 

Total  distilled  spirits  . ' . 273,570,814 

The  population  of  the  United  Kingdom  was,  in  1871, 
31,513,000,  in  1876,  33,089,237,  and  in  1885  must  have  been 
not  more  than  35,000,000. 


Mrs  Mary  A.  Livermore . 


MK.  HOYLE’S  TABLES. 


241 


We  have  then  a per  capita  consumption  of  distilled  spirits 
of  7.8  gallons  by  the  people  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland. 
The  total  consumption  in  the  United  States  in  the  year  1886 
was  217,720,925  gallons,  or  3.63  gallons  per  capita. 

Here  is  the  foe  which  will  silence  the  drum  beat  of  the 
British  Empire,  and  sink  her  proud  navies  in  an  ocean  of 
liquid  fire.  Let  Russia  bide  her  time,  and  be  sober.  God 
save  the  Queen’s  dominions  from  strong  drink.  They  need 
fear  no  other  foe. 

The  tables  (pp.  242,243)  arc  prepared  by  Mr.  Wm.  Hoyle. 
They  are  mainly  from  government  sources.  The  notes  are 
by  our  Bureau  of  Statistics  and  the  information  is  of  the 
highest  verity  attainable  upon  personal  authority.  They  will 
be  of  value  to  those  who  wish  to  study  the  subject  thoroughly. 

The  total  cost  of  intoxicating  liquors  to  the  United  King- 
dom from  1830  to  1881,  inclusive,  was  £4,926,865,122,  or 
$24,634,325,610,  which,  if  saved  and  invested  at  moderate 
interest,  would  purchase  the  entire  kingdom.  This  makes  no 
account  of  the  indirect  losses  which  are  as  much  more.  It  is 
not  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  strong  drink  has  cost  the 
United  Kingdom  during  the  last  fifty  years  an  amount  of 
wealth  which  her  people,  but  for  it,  would  have  produced  and 
saved,  sufficient  to  buy  the  British  Islands  and  the  United 
States. 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  the  people  mourn?  Mr.  Hoyle  him- 
self, by  a careful  computation,  fixes  the  waste  of  wealth  which 
would  have  accrued,  if  the  money  spent  for  liquor  from  the 
year  1830  to  the  year  1882,  inclusive — fifty-two  years — had 
been  invested  at  five  per  cent,  interest,  at  £14,274,218,810, 
or  $71,371,094,050.  This  is  twenty  times  the  national  debt 
of  Great  Britain,  forty-seven  times  more  than  our  own,  nine 
times  the  cost  of  our  civil  war,  four  times  the  amount  of  all 
the  national  debts  of  Europe  and  America,  and  if  properly 
invested  would,  according  to  Mr.  Mulhall,  pi’oduce  an  annual 
income  of  almost  $9,000,000,000,  which  is  thirty  times  the 
ordinary  annual  expenses  of  the  government  of  the  United 
States,  including  interest  on  the  public  debt. 

And  all  this  paid  out  for  a curse  ! "What  fools  we  mortals 
be  !”  Compared  with  us,  the  man  who  paid  forty  shillings  to 
be  hung  was  a Solomon  in  wisdom  and  a Rothschild  among 
financiers.  16 


STATEMENT  SHOTTING  THE  CONSUMPTION  OF  DISTILLED  SPIRITS,  WINE  AND  BEER  IN  THE  UNITED  KINGDOM 

AND  THE  ESTIMATED  COST,  FROM  1876  TO  1882. 


2 42 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


£ 5= 


COST  OF  INTOXICATING  LIQUORS 


243 


Statement  Showing  the  Population,  Total  Estimated  Cost,  and  Average 
Cost  per  Capita  op  Population  op  Intoxicating  Liquors  Consumed  in 
the  United  Kingdom  for  Various  Years  prom  1820  to  18G5  and  for  Each 
Year  prom  1820  to  1862. 


[Prepared  by  William  Hoyle,  Esq.,  London,  England.] 


YEAR. 

Population. 

Total  esti- 
mated cost  of 
intoxicating 
liquors  con- 
sumed. 

Aver- 
age cost 
of 

liquors 

per 

head. 

YEAR. 

Population. 

Total  esti- 
mated cost  of 
intoxicating 
liquors  con- 
sumed. 

Aver- 
age cost 
of 

liquors 

per 

head. 

1820 

20,807,000 

Dollars. 

245,169,448 

Dollars. 
11  80 

1S72 

31.835.000 

32.124.000 

Dollars. 

040,438,(551 

Dollars. 
20  12 

182 

22,571,000 

320,188,175 

14  45 

1873 

681,381,506 

21  33 

1880 

23,820,000 

327,502,204 

301,888,631 

377,688,401 

13  73 

1874 

32,420,000 

687,845,605 

695,309,310 

716,780,740 

21  21 

1835 

25,443,000 

15  33 

14  31 

|,87f) 

32.740.000 

33.003.000 

21  23 

21  66 

1840 

26,500,000 

1876 

1845 

27,072,000 

348, 70S, 207 

12  87 

1877 

33,446,000 

692,051,490 

20  64 

1850 

27.320,000 

392,814,551 

14  31 

1878 

33,709.000 

691 ,962,282 

20  46 

1855 

28.183.000 

25.775.000 

373,557,001 

414,000,888 

13  26 

14  23 

1879 

34.155.000 

34.468.000 

623,612,119 

595,072,092 

IS  25 

17  25 

I860 

18S0 

1865 

20,861,000 

517,088,124 

17  34 

1881 

34,1829,000 

618,407,860 

17  08 

1870 

31,205,000 

577,S30,0S2 

18  51 

1882 

35,278,000 

614,402,239 

17  52 

1871 

31,513,000 

011,108,678 

19  24 

Table  Showing  the  Estimated  Cost  of  Intoxicating  Liquors  Consumed,  the 
Number  of  Apprehensions  for  Drunkenness,  and  the  Total  Number  of 
Convictions  for  Crime,  with  the  Number  of  Lunatics  in  the  United 
Kingdom  for  Each  Year  prom  18G0  to  1SS2,  Inclusive. 


[Prepared  by  William  Hoyle,  Esq.,  London,  England.] 


UNITED  KINGDOM. 

1 

I 

UNITED  KINGDOM. 

YEAR. 

Estimated 
total  cost  of 
intoxicating 
liquors. 

Appre- 
hen- 
sions for 
drunk- 
enness. 

Total 
number  of 
convic- 
tions for 
crime 
from  all 
causes. 

Num- 
ber of 
luna- 
tics. 

YEAR. 

Estimated 
total  cost  of 
intoxicating 
liquors. 

Appre- 
hen- 
sions for 
drunk- 
tnness. 

Total 
number  of 
convic- 
tions for 
crime 
from  all 
causes. 

Num- 
ber of 
luna- 
tics. 

I860.... 

Dollars. 

414,999.888 

88,361 

255,803 

38,058 

1872.... 

Dollars. 

040,43S,651 

151,034 

423,591 

58,640 

1861.... 

413,370,763 

83,196 

263,510  39,647 

1873.... 

081,381,590 

182,941 

450,705  60,296 

1862 

432,473,904 

94,908 

272,969  41,129 

1874.. . . 

687, 8-15, 695 
695,309,310 

1S5,730 

486,786  62,027 

1863 

448,147,152 

94,745 

283,041  43,118 

1875.... 

203,9-9 

512,425 

63,793 

1864.... 

501,753,438 

100,067 

300,731  44,795 

1S76.. . . 

716,780,746 

205,567 

526,915  04,916 

1865.... 

517, OSS, 123 

105,310 

312, SS2  45,950 

*877.. . . 

691,078,190 

200,184 

519,839 

66,636 

1866.... 

554,418,241 

104,365 

339,091  47, (MS 

1S78-. . . 

(>91,902,282 

194,540 

538,232 

68,538 

1867 .... 

535,910,207 

100,357 

335,359  49,080 

1879.... 

623,612,119 

178,429 

006,281 

69,885 

1808.... 

552,176,809 

311,465 

347,458  51,000 

1880.... 

595,072,092 

172,859 

517,373 

71,191 

1869.... 

549,357,787 

122,310 

372,7**7 

53,177 

1881.... 

618,407,800 

174,481 

530,966 

7.3,113 

1S70. . . . 

577,830,102 

131,870 

389,712 

54,713 

1882.... 

614.402,239 

189,697 

575,593 

1S71 

611,168,059 

142,343 

407,859.56,755 

Now  let  us  turn  to  France — our  ally  in  the  Revolution  and 
the  second  Great  Republic  of  the  world. 

It  will  be  observed  that  in  France,  the  land  of  vines,  the 
home  of  song  and  wine,  where  the  fermented  liquors  with  their 
mild  poetic  and  etherializing  influences  exclude  the  baser  and 
destructive  products  of  distillation  from  the  ambrosialized 
stomachs  of  the  people,  exactly  the  same  amount  per  capita 


244 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


was  consumed  in  the  form  of  distilled  drinks  in  the  year  1885 
as  in  the  United  States  in  the  year  1886,  to  wit.  : 1.24  gal- 
lons. (See  p.  198.)  This  is  indeed  a "striking”  corrobo- 
ration of  the  arguments  of  the  advocates  of  the  use  of  fer- 
mented liquors  as  a temperance  beverage,  and'  shows  up  the 
"continental  lie”  of  those  who  cannot  find  any  drunkenness  in 
countries  where  they  consume  the  milder  intoxicants.  These 
ai*e  the  men  who  have  milder  intoxicants  to  sell — or  who 
desire  them  to  drink — hence  their  facts. 


FRANCE. 


Annual,  Production,  Importation,  Exportation  and  Consumption  of  Bis- 
tilled  Spirits  in  France  During  Each  Year  from  1S79  to  I SS5,  Inclusive. 

[From  “Amiuairo  dc  la  Statistique  dc  la  France,”  and  “Journal  de  la  Society  de 
Statistique  dc  la  Paris,”  1SSG.] 


YEAR. 

Production. 

Importation . 

Total 

production 

and 

importation. 

Exportation. 

Consumption. 

Total. 

Per 

capita. 

Gallons. 

Gallons. 

Gallons. 

Gallons. 

Gallons. 

Gallons . 

1879 

39,305,300 

5,287, *230 

44,592.530 

9,001,932 

35, 590.59S 

.94 

18S0 

41,767,073 

G.93S.7G8 

48,705,841 

7,972,914 

40,732,927 

1.08] 

1881 

48, 112, 9G5 

6.491,053 

54,G04,018 

7,970,537 

46.633,481 

3.24 

1882 

4G, 606,347 

7.5GS.497 

54,235,S44 

7,091,10S 

47,144,670 

1.25 

1883 

53,123,160 

4,427,505 

57,550,755 

7,847,989 

49,702,760 

1.32 

1884 

51,102,735 

5,077.215 

50,179,950 

7,77.3,104 

4S, 404,840 

1.28 

1885 

49,214,S71 

5,445,177 

54,GG0,04S 

7,801,970 

4G,S5$,07S 

1.24 

Note. — The  liter  has  been  computed  at  .26417  United  States  gallon.  For  want  of  later 
information,  the  population  of  France  in  1681  was  made  the  basis  for  the  consumption 
per  capita  in  each  of  the  above  years. 


Annual  Production,  Importation,  Exportation,  and  Consumption  op  Wine 
in  France  during  Each  Year  from  1S79  to  1SS5,  Inclusive. 


[From  “Annuaire  de  la  Statistique  de  la  France,”  and  “Journal  de  la  Socidte  de  la 
Statistique  de  Paris,”  1SSG. 


YEAR. 

Production. 

Importation. 

Total 

production 

and 

importation. 

Exportation. 

Consumption. 

Total. 

Per 

capita. 

Gallons. 

Gallons. 

Gallons. 

Gallons. 

Gallons. 

Gallons. 

1879 

l700.G5S,302 

77,016, 07S 

77S.274.380 

80,4S5,651 

097,788,729 

18.52 

1880 

895,950,492 

190,745,903 

1,086,696,395 

65,714.427 

1,020,9$! ,908 

27.10 

1881 

1,119,100.810 

207,070,444 

1,226, 183,254 

07,949,702 

1,158,233.552 

30.75 

1882 

1,025,648,611 

199,098,034 

1,224,740.645 

09,100.997 

1.155, 579,  C4S 

30.G7 

1883 

1,219,540,964 

237,245.008 

1 ,45(5,780,570 

07,130,141 

1,389,050.431 

30.88 

1884 

018,800, <>77 

214,700.881 

1,133,576,558 

64.296.014 

1,00$, 279, 942 

28.36 

18S5 

753,S35,512 

210,180,293 

970,021,901 

08,757,533 

901,264,428 

23.92 

NOTE.— The  liter  lias  been  computed  at  .26417  United  States  gallon.  For  want  of  later 
information,  the  population  of  France  in  1881  was  made  the  basis  of  the  consumption  per 
eapita  for  each  of  the  above  years. 


ALCOHOLISM  IN  FRANCE. 


245 


If  we  reduce  the  gallons  of  wine  consumed  to  distilled 

liquor  of  five  times  the  strength  of  the  wine  we  have 

The  per  capita  consumption  of  gallons  . . 1.24 

23.92-^5  —spirit  gallons  . . . 4.73 


6.02 

or  six  gallons  consumed  in  France  by  the  same  rule  which 
gives  us  a per  capita  consumption  in  the  United  States  of 
3.63,  almost  twice  as  much.  I have  no  official  data  of  the 
consumption  of  malt  liquors  in  France ; hut  there  must  be 
some,  however  small  (Dr.  Eddy  and  Pev.  F.  F.  Parker  fix  the 
amount  at  51,000,000  gallons),  which  would  increase  the  dis- 
proportion . The  per  capita  consumption  is  probably  greater  in 
France  than  in  England.  Again  I call  attention  to  the  theory 
of  those  who  would  reform  the  world  with  fermented  drinks  ! 
Does  not  this  prove  that  wherever,  if  anywhere,  the  consump- 
tion of  distilled  drinks  is  curtailed  it  is  to  be  attributed  to 
efforts  by  education  and  law  to  destroy  the  wdiole  traffic, 
rather  than  to  the  substitution  of  one  drink  for  another  when 
both  are  consumed  to  get  the  same  thing , to  wit:  the  alcohol, 
and  nothing  but  the  alcohol  wdiich  they  contain? 

I take  the  following  from  the  Medical  Press  of  July  21, 
1887  : 

"At  the  last  meeting  of  the  Academie  de  Medecine,  M. 
Pochard  read  the  report  of  the  committee  which  that  body,  at 
the  instigation  of  the  government,  had  elected  to  examine  the 
question  of  alcoholism  in  France.  M.  Pochard  stated  that  the 
consumption  of  alcohol  had  doubled  in  forty  years,  and  that 
alcoholism  had  increased  enormously ; he  considered  that  it 
was  a regular  wholesale  poisoning  due  to  the  inferior  quality 
of  the  alcohol  employed  in  the  fabrication  of  wines.  The 
spirits  of  beet  root,  potatoes  aud  grains,  so  much  employed 
to-day,  contain  deleterious  principles  in  very  strong  propor- 
tions, which  an  imperfect  distillation  has  been  unable  to 
extract.  The  Spanish  and  Italian  wines  which  now  fill  the 
market  are  artificially  charged  with  alcohol  of  very  inferior 
quality.” 

No  wonder  that  the  vitality  of  the  French  people  is  threat- 
ened ; that  the  population  is  stationary ; that  the  army  is 
made  up  of  round-shouldered  boys,  and  that  their  Legislature, 


246 


THE  TEMPER  AN  CE  MOVEMENT. 


iii  alarm,  has  ordered  a national  inquiry,  with  a view  to  the 
removal  of  the  national  curse.  Give  France  twenty  years  of 
sobriety  and,  if  surrounding  nations  continue  in  their  cups, 
slie  will,  if  she  be  foolish  enough  to  fight  so  near  the  millen- 
nium, overthrow  all  her  enemies  and  float  the  tricolor  above 
every  capitol  in  Europe. 

That  I may  not  be  thought  to  draw  unwarranted  inferences 
as  to  the  effects  of  intoxicating  drinks  in  France,  I quote  from 
the  Paris  Constituliond  of  1872,  as  cited  in  "Alcohol  in  His- 
tory,” a new  and  valuable  work  by  Richard  Eddy,  D.  D. 
"The  habit  of  drunkenness  has  increased  in  France  year  by 
year  since  the  beginning  of  this  century.  The  French  race  is 
deteriorating  daily.  In  forty  years  the  consumption  of  alco- 
hol has  tripled  in  France.”  And  a French  magazine  says  : 
"Drunkenness  is  the  beginning  and  end  of  life  in  the  great 
French  industrial  centers  among  women  as  well  as  men. 
Twenty-five  out  of  every  one  hundred  men  and  twelve  out  of 
every  one  hundred  women  in  Lisle  are  confirmed  drunkards.” 

France  has  her  national  commission  of  inquiry  into  the 
liquor  traffic.  She  needs  it  and  she  knows  it.  We  need  one 
in  the  United  States,  and  we  know  it.  But  our  government 
is  in  the  hands  of  the  liquor  traffic,  and  we  cannot  get  it,  lo  ! 
after  these  twelve  years,  during  which  " we  have  petitioned, 
we  have  remonstrated,  we  have  supplicated,  we  have  pros- 
trated ourselves  at  the  foot  of  the  throne”  of  King  Alcohol  — 
but  in  vain.  " Our  petitions  have  been  slighted  ; our  remon- 
strances have  been  met  with  additional  violence  and  insult, 
and  we  have  been  spurned  with  contempt  from  the  foot  of  the 
throne.”  There  will  be  another  Declaration  of  Independence 
— a day  of  vengeance  and  a Yorktown  further  up  the  Potomac. 
The  worst  tyranny  on  earth  is  inflicted  by  the  abuse  of  the 
forms  of  popular  government,  and  our  own  is  already  well 
nigh  revolutionized.  The  seat  of  tyramy  in  our  government 
is  not  in  the  executive  chair  nor  in  the  chamber  of  the  senate. 
Our  popular  assembly  is  the  home  of  the  American  despot ; 
and  unless  the  existing  oixler  of  things  be  changed,  govern- 
ment by  an  acknowledged  king  will  be  better  than  the  one 
man  or  the  ring  power,  which  conceals  its  irresponsible 
supremacy  under  the  forms  of  freedom. 


CONSUMPTION  OF  SPIRITS  IN  GERMANY. 


247 


GERMANY. 

Let  us  turn  to  Germany,  the  home  of  the  profoundest 
thinkers  of  the  world. 


Annual  Production,  Importation,  Exportation,  and  Consumption  of  Dis- 
tilled Spirits  in  Germanv  during  Each  Year  from  1870  to  1881,  Inclusive. 
[From  “ Statistisches  Jahrbuch  f Ur  das  Deutsche  Reich,”  18S2.] 


Total 

production 

and 

importation. 

Consumption. 

FISCAD  YEAR. 

Production. 

Importation. 

Exportation. 

Total. 

Per 

capita. 

Proof 

gallons. 

Gallons. 

Gallons. 

Gallons. 

Gallons. 

Gallons. 

1870 

45,939,163 

760,093 

46,705,256 

16,220,038 

30,485,218 

1.00 

1871 

43,059,710 

924,595 

43,984,305 

12,653,743 

31,330,562 

1.03 

1872 

45,463,057 

818,927 

40,282,584 

7,079,756 

39,202,828 

1.27 

1873 

50,165,883 

951,012 

51,110,895 

13,868,925 

37,247,970 

1.16 

1874 

54,973,777 

1,183,765 

50,162,542 

13,763,257 

42,399,285 

1.27 

1875...  

57,351,307 

1,320,850 

58,672,157 

10,566,800 

48,105,357 

1.43 

1876 

53,864,263 

1,347,267 

55,211,530 

10,4.34,715 

44,776,815 

1.32 

1877-’78 

52,966,085 

1,135,931 

54,102,016 

14,714,269 

39,3S7,747 

1.14 

187S-’79 

55,079,445 

1,131,931 

56,215,376 

14,529,350 

41, CSC, 026 

1.19 

1879-’80 

53,837,840 

1,268,016 

55,105,862 

16,008,702 

39,097,160 

1.11 

1880-’81 

57,747,562 

977,429 

58,724,991 

IS, 042, 811 

40,682,180 

1.14 

Average  for 

11  years 

51 ,S56,571 

1,0S3,097 

52, 939, 60S 

13,446,253 

39,493,415 

1.19 

Note. — The  liter  has  been  computed  at  .26417  United  States  gallon. 


This  is  the  great  beer-drinking  nation  as  we  generally 
suppose,  but  note  that  she  consumes  per  capita  nearly  as 
much  of  ardent  spirits  as  ourselves. 


Annual  Production,  Importation,  Exportation  and  Consumption  of  Beer 
in  Germany  during  Each  Year  from  1S72  to  1885,  Inclusive. 


[From  “ Statistisches  Jahrbuch  fur  das  Deutsche  Reich,”  1SS6.] 


FISCAL  YEAR. 

Production. 

Importation. 

Total 

production 

and 

importation. 

Exportation. 

Consumption. 

Total. 

Per 

capita. 

Gallons. 

[Gallons. 

Gallons. 

Gallons. 

Gallons. 

Gallons. 

1872 

8s6, 158,265 

1,400,101 

887,558,366 

7,819,432 

879,738,934 

21.50 

1873 

995,49S,22S 

1,875,607 

997,373,S35 

7,660,930 

989,712,905 

23.93 

1874 

1,027,304,296 

2,614,283 

1,029,919,579 

8,506,274 

1,021,413,305 

24.46 

1S75 

1,046,245,285 

3,143,623 

1 ,04!),3SS,9CS 

10,249,796 

1,039,139,112 

24.65 

1876 

1,043,082,836 

3,487,044 

1,047,169,880 

15,136,941 

1,032,032,939 

24.22 

1877-’7S 

1 ,02S,179,057 

3,037,955 

1,031,214,012 

17,435,220 

1,013,778,792 

23.46 

lS78-’79 

1,025, 272, 1S7 

2,720,951 

1,027,991,138 

17,S57,S92 

1,010,133,246 

23.11 

1879  ’80 

933,848,331 

2,29S,279 

986,146,610 

17,963,560 

9GS, 183,050 

21.90 

1880-', SI 

1,018,956,524 

2,4S3,19S 

1,021,439,722 

22,5SG,535 

998,853,187 

22.35 

18Sl-’82 

1,033,142,453 

2,536,032 

1,035,678,485 

25,994,328 

1,009,684,157 

22.45 

1882-’83 

1,0.38, 822, 10S 

2,641,700 

1,041,463,808 

2G,2S4,915 

1, 015.17S, 893 

22.45 

1833-’S4 

1,079,742,041 

2,853,036 

1,082,595,077 

28,530,360 

1,054,064,717 

23.19 

1884-’85 

1,119, 393.95S 

2,773 ,7S5 

1,122,167,743 

30,485,218 

1,091,682,525 

23.78 

Average  for 

13  years. . . 

1,025, 0S5,2GS 

2,615,283 

1,027,700,551 

18,201,313 

1,009,499,238 

23.19 

Note. — The  liter  has  been  computed  at  .26417  United  States  gallon — little  more  than 


one  quart. 


248 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


It  will  be  observed  that  the  consumption  of  beer,  per  capita, 
is  less  in  Germany  than  in  the  United  Kingdom,  where  it  is 
32.79  gallons.  Reducing  the  23.78  gallons  of  beer  per 
capita,  consumed  by  the  German  people  in  the  year  1884-5, 
to  a distilled  liquor  of  five  times  its  strength,  we  have  23.78 
— 5 = 4.75  gallons  + 1.19  gallons,  shown  as  the  average  of 
distilled  liquors  consumed  during  11  years  prior  to  1882,  and 
we  have  5.94  gallons  to  3.63  gallons,  the  per  capita  consump- 
tion of  our  own  people  found  by  the  same  process. 

Once  more  I call  attention  to  the  fact  that  all  the  evidence 
goes  to  contradict  absolutely  the  interested  assertion  of  the 
dealers  in  fermented  drinks  that  their  use  tends  to  diminish 
the  consumption  of  alcohol.  The  "continent”  emphatically 
disproves  the  assertion  as  well  as  the  lamentable  experience  of 
our  own  country.  Instead  of  a single  lion  we  have  now  to 
contend  not  alone  with  the  king  of  beasts,  but  also  with  the 
swarms  of  jackals  who  hunt  out  the  prey  and  really  eat  up 
more  children  than  his  majesty  himself. 

LIQUOR  CONSUMPTION  OF  THE  WORLD. 

Col.  Switzler  gives  us  from  official  data  the  following,  bear- 
ing upon  the  consumption  of  liquors  in  the  four  great  nations 
whose  statistics  are  most  available. 


Comparative  Summary  of  the  Consumption-  per  capita  of  Population  in  the 
United  States,  the  United  Kingdom,  France  and  Germany  of  Distilled 
Spirits,  Wines  and  Malt  Liquors  During  Each  Tear  from  1S31  to  1885. 
Inclusive. 


[From  original  official  data.] 


TEARS. 

DISTILLED  SPIRITS. 

WINES. 

MALT  LIQUORS. 

United  States. 

to 

• 

O r2 

5 

France. 

CZ 

O 

United  States. 

tD 

5 ' 

c3 

s 

o 

United  States. 

to 

6 

o 

a 

5 

o 

O 

Galls. 

Galls. 

Galls. 

Galls. 

Galls. 

Galls. 

Galls. 

Galls. 

Galls. 

Galls. 

Galls. 

Galls. 

18S1 

1.39 

1.00 

.H4 

1.32 

.48 

.43 

18.52 

(«) 

9.97 

33.90 

(a) 

22,85 

1882 

1.45 

1.07 

1.08 

1.14 

.48 

.41 

27.10 

(«) 

10.18 

83.05 

W 

22.45 

1883 

1.45 

1 .03 

1.24 

1 .10 

.37 

.40 

30.75 

(a) 

10.C2 

3.1.13 

(.a) 

22.45 

1SS4 

1 .24 

1 .05 

1 .25 

1.11 

.33 

.30 

30.G7 

uo 

10.44 

33.72 

( a ) 

23.19 

1854 

1.24 

1.01 

1..33 

1.14 

.38 

.37 

3G.SS 

(a) 

11.18 

32.79 

(“> 

23.7S 

a No  date. 


Note — The  years  referred  to  are,  for  France  and  Great  Britain  calendar  years  ; for 
the  Uuited  States  the  five  years  ending  June  30,  1SS0 : for  Germany  in  the  case  of  beer, 
the  five  years  ending  March  31,  1885,  and  in  the  case  of  spirits  tile  five  years  ending 
March  31, 1881,  these'being  the  latest  years  for  which  data  were  obtainable.  ’ 


SCANDINAVIA RUSSIA PERSIA. 


249 


WINE  PRODUCTION  OF  THE  WORLD. 

Average  Production  of  Wine  in  the  Principal  Wine-Growing  Countries  of 

the  World. 


[Estimated  by  M.  Tisserand  in  18S4.  taken  from  “Journal  of  the  Statistical  Society,” 

London,  1SS5.] 


Countries. 


France 

Algeria 

Italy 

Spain 

Austria-Hungary. 

Portugal 

Germany 

Russia 

Cyprus 

Switzerland 


Production. 

Countries. 

Production. 

Imperial  r/allons. 

Greece  

Imperial  qallons . 

765,075,972 

2S, 600,000 

22,000.000 

United  States 

18,0'i0,000 

605,000,000 

Turkey 

22,000,000, 

4S4,000,000 

Cape  of  Good  Hope 

15,400,000 

1S7, 000,000 
88,000,000 

Roumania 

15,400,000 

Servia 

11,000,000 

81,200,000 
' 77,000,000 

Australia 

1,933,800 

35.200.000 

25. 600. 000 

Total 

2,485,599,772 

Prof.  Thausing,  cited  in  the  Western  Breioer  for  October, 
1880,  makes  the  entire  beer  production  of  the  European  coun- 
tries and  the  United  States  for  the  year  1879,  2,660,000,000 
imperial  gallons,  supplying  a population  of  320,000,000.  It 
is  well  known  that  the  consumption  of  liquors  is  very  great 
in  the  Scandinavian  countries.  At  one  time  in  Sweden  it  was 
30,000,000  gallons  of  ardent  spirits  annually,  or  more  than 
ten  gallons  for  each  inhabitant.  The  tax  on  brandy  is  the 
most  important  item  of  Russian  revenue,  and  the  people  are 
encouraged  to  consume  it  in  order  that  the  government  may 
get  the  tax.  The  result  may  be  imagined.  Here  is  the 
most  numerous  if  not  the  most  powerful  nation  in  Europe, 
with  80,000,000  of  people.  In  1847,  the  revenues  were 
$100,000,000  in  round  numbers,  of  which  $40,000,000  were 
derived  from  brandy.  William  Hewett  is  authority  for  this, 
and  observes  that  " the  temperance  societies  have  never  been 
able  to  take  root  in  Russia.” 

In  December,  1882,  a correspondent  of  the  London  Times 
wrote  that.  " the  vice  of  intemperance  is  growing  so  fast  as  to 
occasion  grave  anxiety  among  public  men  of  all  classes.  . . . 
"The  evil  affects  all  classes  and  is  even  rife  among  the  other 
sex.” 

Speaking  of  wine  drinking  in  Persia,  Rev.  I.  S.  Cochran, 
long  a resident  missionary  in  that  country,  says  : " In  the  wine- 
making season  the  whole  village  of  male  adults  •will  be  habit- 
ually intoxicated  for  a month  or  six  weeks Wine 

drinking  is  the  greatest  bane  and  curse  of  the  people  of  the 


250 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


wine-making  districts.”  Mr.  Labaree,  also  a missionary  in 
Persia,  writes  : "If  I had  any  sentiments  favorable  to  the  use 
of  wine  when  I left  America,  my  observations  during  the 
seven  years  I have  resided  in  this  paradise  of  vineyards  have 
convinced  me  that  the  principle  of  total  abstinence  is  the  only 
safeguard  against  the  great  social  and  religious  evils  that  flow 

from  the  practice  of  wine  drinking There  is  scarcely 

a community  to  be  found  where  the  blighting  influences  of 
intemperance  are  not  seen  in  families  distressed  and  ruined, 
property  squandered,  character  destroyed,  and  lives  lost.” 

COST  OF  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC  OF  THE  WORLD. 

The  United  Kingdom,  France,  Germany  and  the  United 
States  have  a population  in  round  numbers  of  175,000,000 
souls.  The  remainder  of  Europe  has  a population  of 
190,000,000 — all  of  them  large  consumers  of  alcoholic  drinks. 

Asia  has  a population  of  800,000,000,  and  intemperance  in 
the  use  of  various  alcoholic  intoxicants  prevails  among  these 
nations  to  some  extent ; but  fortunately  the  heathen  are  not 
yet  as  badly  drunken  as  their  more  " civilized  ” fellow  beings. 
Africa  has  200,000,000,  and  we  shall  see  elsewhere  something 
of  the  ravages  of  intemperance  and  the  crimes  of  civiliza- 
tion being  perpetrated  there.  Then  there  are  Canada,  Mexico, 
and  the  Central  and  South  American  States,  Australia  and 
the  isles  of  the  sea,  and  eveiywhere  alcohol  is  at  work.  It  is 
impossible  to  obtain  definite  statistics  of  the  whole  world,  but 
it  is  obviously  below  the  truth  to  double  the  consumption  of 
these  175,000,000  living  in  the  British  Isles,  France,  Germany, 
and  our  own  country  (less  than  one  eighth),  in  order  to  find 
that  of  the  whole  1,500,000,000  of  the  race. 

A careful  estimate  and  calculation  based  upon  that  assump- 
tion has  been  made  by  Bev.  T.  F.  Parker,  indorsed  by  Dr. 
Richard  Eddy  and  incorporated  by  him  in  his  "Alcohol  in 
History,”  already  referred  to,  which  was  again  substantially 
indorsed  by  A.  M.  Powell,  Esq.,  Rev.  Dr.  Miner  and  Hon. 
James  Black,  who,  after  much  care  in  reading  and  examina- 
tion, gave  their  unanimous  and  favorable  judgment  upon  the 
work  of  Dr.  Eddy.  I feel  great  confidence  in  its  being  a 
statement  below  and  not  in  exaggeration  of  the  truth.  In 
fact  it  should  be  increased  by  at  least  one  half. 


M vs.  Armenia  S.  White , 


COST  OF  LIQUORS  IN  THE  WORLD. 


251 


The  exact  cost  of  intoxicating  drinks  in  the  United  States  and 
in  other  parts  of  the  world  through  a series  of  years,  it  is  not 
possible  to  arrive  at,  but  an  approximation  can  be  made.  Rev.  T. 
F.  Parker  has  carefully  compiled  statistics  from  the  best  authori- 
ties, and  presents  these  results,  which  are  as  nearly  correct  as  figures 
setting  forth  this  matter  can  be  : 


LIQUORS  CONSUMED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Spirituous  liquors 69,572,062  gallons  annually. 

Beer 279,746,044  “ 

Imported  wines 10,700,000  “ “ 


LIQUORS  CONSUMED  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN. 

Spirituous  liquors 33,090,377  gallons  annually. 

Beer  and  ale 906,340,399  “ “ 

Foreign  and  British  wines 17,144,539  “ “ 

LIQUORS  CONSUMED  IN  GERMANY. 

Beer 146,000,000  gallons  annually. 

Wine 121,000,000  “ “ 


LIQUORS  CONSUMED  IN  FRANCE. 


Spirituous  liquors  27,000,000  gallons  annually. 

Beer 51,800,000  “ “ 

Wine 600,000,000  “ 


We  estimate  that  the  world  consumes  twice  as  much  as  these 
four  nations : 


Spirituous  liquors, 314,031,882  gallons  annually. 

Beer, 2,797,291,632  “ “ 

Wine, 1,482,239,914  “ 


Cost  of  liquors  in  the  world  in  ten  years,  S64, 405. 042, 234, 
or  twice  the  value  of  the  United  States  of  America.  Allowing  the 
average  value  of  the  world  per  square  mile,  to  equal  the  United 
States,  and  every  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  the  actual  cash 
value  of  the  world  is  consumed  in  these  drinks.  The  materials 
used  in  the  manufacture  are  annually  as  follows  : 


Busliels  of  Bushels  of  Value. 

Grain.  Grapes. 

United  States, 39,349,520  2,364,312  $ 42,895,984 

Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  63,929,550  3,784,246  69,605,920 

Germany, 9,125,000  34,714,285  61,196,428 

France, 9,237,500  171,428,571  366,380,357 

The  World, 242,971,145  432,641,261  891,922,536 


252 


the  temperance  movement. 


The  cost  in  France  and  Germany  would  be  modified  by  the  cost 
of  grapes  which  are  much  cheaper  there. 

The  land,  buildings,  machinery,  labor,  etc.,  invested  in  the 
traffic  is  about  as  follows  : 


Building  and 

Acres.  Machinery.  Labor. 

United  States, 903,414  $ 74,041,044  8 9,405,104 

Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  1,629,773  92,116,883  15,271,432 

Germany, 517,410  46,120,535  6.304,892 

France, 1,576,017  190,967,633  27,929,283 

The  World,  9,253,228  746,488,070  117,821,020 

Value  of  Land.  Total  Investment. 

United  States, $ 45,170,500  8 128,616,848 

Great  Britain  and  Ireland, 81,4S7,650  188,876,965 

Germany, 25,870,000  78,395.427 

France,  78,800,850  297,697,7 66 

The  World, 462,660,400  1,326,964,492 


COST  OF  ALCOIIOLIC  DRINKS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  ANNUALLY. 


Direct  outlay  for  drinks, 8726,407,028 

Seven  per  cent,  on  the  $10,000,000,000  which  the 
nation  should  possess,  but  has  been  de- 
stroyed by  the  traffic 700,000.000 

Direct  loss  of  wages, 7,903,844 

Ten  per  cent,  on  capital  employed  in  the  manu- 
facture,  25,848,081 

Ten  per  cent,  on  capital  employed  in  saloons,.  . . 36,254,700 

Charity  bestowed  on  the  poor, 14,000,000 

Loss  by  sea  and  land, 50,000.000 

Court,  police,  hospital  expenses,  charity,  litiga- 
tion, insurance, 207,266,550 


Total 81,866,642,203 


“ In  return  for  this,”  says  Mr.  Parker,  “ the  nation  receives  500 
murders,  500  suicides,  100,000  criminals,  200.000  paupers,  60,000 
deaths  from  drunkenness,  600,000  besotted  drunkards,  600,000 
moderate  drinkers,  who  will  be  sots  ten  years  hence,  500,000 
homes  destroyed,  1,000,000  children  worse  than  orphaned.  And 
if  the  country  should  be  searched  from  center  to  circumference,  it 
would  be  impossible  to  find  any  good  resulting  from  the  traffic,  or 
a single  reason  why  it  should  exist  longer.” 


PER  CAPITA  CONSUMPTION  OF  ALCOHOL. 


253 


We  have  seen  that  a reasonable  estimate  of  the  yearly  per 
capita  consumption  of  absolute  alcohol  is  in 


Gallons. 

United  States  . . . . . .3.43 

United  Kingdom  . 7.80 

France,  6.2,  not  including  malt  liquors,  but 

including  them  the  same  ....  7.80 

Germany  . . . . . . .5.94 


Total 24.97 


which,  divided  by  four,  gives  6.16  gallons  as  the  average 
throughout  these  four  countries  containing  175,000,000  of 
people — the  aggregate  is  1,078,000,000  gallons,  which  is  nearly 
correct,  as  a careful  calculation  based  upon  the  actual  popula- 
tion of  each  country  will  show,  although  the  rule  adopted  may 
not  be  absolutely  correct.  Double  this  for  the  whole  world, 
2,156,000,000  gallons.  I cannot  see  how  the  consumption 
by  the  whole  fifteen  hundred  millions  can  be  less  than  three 
times  as  much  as  that  of  the  175,000,000,  or  3,234,000,000 
gallons  of  pure  alcohol.  If  we  should  assume  the  average 
proportion  of  alcohol  in  the  various  forms  of  distilled  liquors, 
brandies,  whiskies,  rums  and  gins,  and  of  fermented  liquors, 
ales,  beers,  wines  and  highly  fortified  adulterations,  and  the 
various  mongrel  intoxicants  which  are  drank  and  paid  for,  at 
twenty-five  per  cent,  of  the  entire  bulk  which  is  paid  for  by 
the  consumer,  we  then  have  a quantity  for  the  world,  con- 
sumed by  it  annually,  of  12,936,000,000  gallons,  sold  at 
retail  to  the  consumer.  It  will  be  difficult  to  conceive  that 
there  will  be  less  than  ten  drinks,  costing  five  cents  each,  to 
the  gallon,  of  this  average  compound  made  up  of  the  admixt- 
ure of  all  the  various  alcoholic  intoxicants  of  the  world  con- 
sumed yearly. 

We  have  then  129,360,000,000  (one  hundred  and  twenty- 
nine  billion  three  hundred  and  sixty  million)  separate  and 
distinct  drinks  costing  at  five  cents  $6,468,000,000  (six  billion 
four  hundred  and  sixty-eight  million  dollars),  the  direct  cost 
of  intoxicating  beverages  yearly  to  the  world.  Double  this, 
so  as  to  include  the  indirect  cost  and  losses,  and  we  have  as 
the  cash  cost  of  these  beverages  yearly  $12,936,000,000 
(twelve  billion,  nine  hundred  and  thirty-six  million  of  dol- 


254 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


lars).  I am  "fanatic'5  enough  to  believe  that  the  actual 
consumption  and  cost  directly  and  indirectly  to  the  world 
are  more  rather  than  less  than  these  estimates. 

We  should  remember  that  at  least  ten  billions  of  this  con- 
sumption and  burden  fall  upon  the  four  hundred  millions  of 
the  civilized  inhabitants  of  Europe  and  America — that  as 
among  them,  the  selected  victims,  in  and  through  whom  the 
most  of  the  terrible  devastation  is  wrought,  do  not  exceed  one 
fourth,  or  one  hundred  millions.  Other  hundreds  of  millions 
are  on  the  road,  but  these  I now  refer  to  are  on  the  home 
stretch  and  will  be  in  at  the  finish. 

Here  I drop  this  subject.  Let  reason  and  imagination 
work. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


ALCOHOL  AGAINST  THE  NATIVE  RACES  OF  ASIA,  AFRICA  AND 

OCEANIC  A. 

The  Trade  with  Africa,  Asia  and  the  Islands  of  the  Sea — How  it  has  Fol- 
lowed the  March  of  Discovery — The  Situation  in  the  Valley  of  the 
Congo — The  Vice  of  Intemperance  almost  Unknown  where  the  Mo- 
hammedan Religion  Prevails — Advent  of  the  European  Slave  and  Gin 
Trade — Testimony  of  the  Missionaries — Government  Influences  at  Work 
in  Southern  Africa — A Heathen  Gough — How  a Heathen  Tribe  Vigor- 
ously Suppressed  the  Habit  and  the  Trade — Oceanica. 

HE  alcoholic  evil  of  the  world  is  a unit,  and  no  general 


plan  of  action  which  does  not  contemplate  its  complete 


extirpation  is  worth  consideration.  As  each  individual’s  first 
duty  is  to  rid  himself  of  it,  and  his  second  to  aid  others,  so 
each  nation  should  destroy  the  evil  first  in  its  own  special 
jurisdiction.  But  alcoholism  is  international  in  its  extent,  and 
our  influence  and  responsibility  are  co-existent  with  our  race 
relations,  and  the  work  should  go  on  contemporaneously  every- 
where. Alcohol  has  a special  affinity  for  the  brain,  and  its 
ravages  upon  the  mental  and  moral  powers  are  in  proportion 
to  their  development. 

Thus  in  the  very  nature  of  things  alcohol  is  the  great  foe  of 
civilized  men.  Europeans  and  Americans  are  its  victims  more 
than  other  people,  because  these  advanced  nations  have  more 
brain  and  nerve  upon  which  the  poison  works.  If  savage  and 
barbarous  people  possessed  the  power  of  self-control  which 
belong  to  civilized  men,  they  would  reject  the  drink  evil  with 
comparative  ease  when  they  discovered  its  destructive  influ- 
ence. But  the  savage  is  weak  to  resist  his  appetite  and 
passions ; he  yields  to  a temptation  of  far  less  actual  power 
than  is  required  to  overcome  the  self-control  resulting  from 
that  increase  of  moral  and  intellectual  force  which  constitutes 
the  very  process  of  civilization.  Whether  the  brain  be  the 
mind  or  only  its  organ — whether  the  material  or  spiritual 
theory  of  our  highest  nature  be  the  correct  one — all  concede 


255 


25G 


the  temperance  movement. 


that  the  brain  is  the  point  in  our  organization  where  the  con- 
nection is  made  between  soul  and  body ; and  that,  so  far  as 
our  earthly  existence  is  concerned,  whatever  seizes  upon  the 
brain  and  the  nervous  forces  controls  the  human  hems'. 

Hence  the  civilized  man,  if  he  be  addicted  to  the  use  of 
liquor,  and  makes  no  effort  to  escape  from  its  influence,  is 
naturally  the  worst  drunkard  of  the  race.  I do  not  know  that 
the  theory  is  correct.  It  is  at  all  events  the  most  consoling 
explanation  which  occurs  to  me  of  the  apparent  fact  that 
civilized  nations  are  the  drunken  nations,  and  that  they  uni- 
versally spread  the  etdl  to  others. 

When  these  stronger  peoples  set  about  their  own  reformation 
they  have  the  inherent  power  to  accomplish  it.  What  they 
often  do  as  individuals  they  can  do  if  they  please  as  nations  ; 
but  the  savage  has  no  such  innate  reformatory  forces,  and  so 
long  as  it  is  possible  he  gratifies  his  appetite  until  he  dis- 
appears. 

Thus  of  the  three  hundred  thousand  natives  who  inhabited 
the  Sandwich  Islands  when  the}r  were  discovered,  civilization 
has  destroyed  all  but  forty  thousand,  a deteriorated  remnant 
which  even  the  redemptory  influences  of  Christianity  have 
hardly  saved.  British  rum  has  not  reduced,  but  has  actually 
obliterated,  the  Hottentot,  and  there  is  nothing  left  of  him  but 
his  picture  in  the  primary  geography,  which  people  now 
elderly  studied  when  at  school. 

The  relation  of  the  more  civilized  races  to  weaker  nations 
in  the  spread  of  the  alcoholic  evil  is  the  most  important  aspect 
of  the  whole  problem.  There  has  never  been  a race  of  men 
which  has  not  demonstrated  its  power  to  rise  to  a higher  and 
happier  level  if  it  had  the  opportunity.  The  principles  of  the 
Christian  religion  never  yet  failed  to  convert  an  ordinary  man 
into  a better  one  when  they  have  had  a fair  chance  to  pro- 
duce their  natural  effect.  In  thousands  and  millions  of 
instances  the  weak  have  been  developed  into  giants  of  moral 
power ; the  most  vicious  and  criminal  into  models  of  loveli- 
ness and  hoty  life.  This  force  which  we  call  the  Christian 
religion  has  unquestionably  power  to  redeem  and  save  to  the 
uttermost — if  it  be  given  the  opportunity.  Its  apostles  and 
witnesses  have  ennobled  human  nature  in  every  kindred  and 
tongue  under  the  whole  heaven,  and  the  blood  of  martyrs  has 


INFLUENCE  OF  ALCOHOL  ON  HEATHEN  NATIONS.  257 

everywhere  attested  the  sincerity  of  their  professions,  and  their 
sublime  devotion  to  the  heavenly  truth  by  which  the}r  were 
inspired.  There  is  a force  in  the  world  which  would  save  the 
world. 

But  what  is  the  process  now  in  plain  operation  before  our 
eyes  ? We  find  a population  living  upon  our  planet  of  fifteen 
hundred  millions  of  human  beings.  Europe  has  three  hundred 
millions,  America  one  hundred  millions,  Asia  eight  hundred, 
and  Africa  two  hundred  millions,  and  one  hundred  millions 
more  arc  inhabitants  of  the  isles  of  the  sea.  Of  this  vast  number 
of  souls  about  four  hundred  millions  may  be  classed  as  civil- 
ized people,  among  whom  the  Christian  religion  is  nominally 
prevailing  and  controlling  individuals  and  institutions,  but 
really  with  only  feeble  application  of  its  peculiarly  unselfish 
principles  in  personal  and  national  life.  The  remaining  eleven 
hundred  millions  are  many  of  them  embraced  in  the  provinces, 
colonies  and  dependencies  of  the  Christian  powers,  and  all  are 
really  subject  to  that  supremacy  which  results  from  the  spirit 
of  political  and  commercial  aggrandizement.  Everywhere  the 
heathen  nations  and  barbarous  tribes  are  giving  way  before 
the  demands  of  the  western  powers,  which,  with  gunpowder 
and  opium  and  rum,  proceed  at  once  to  "develop”  their 
destruction.  The  costs  of  war  are  largety  dispensed  with 
because  unnecessary  ; for  commerce  has  discovered  a way  to 
convert  the  work  of  destruction  into  a profitable  pecuniary 
speculation,  in  which  the  dealer  makes  his  fortune  and  the  gov- 
ernment its  revenue,  and  both  blasphemously  avail  themselves 
of  the  self-sacrificing  labors  and  the  pious  reputation  of  the 
ministers  of  our  sacred  religion  to  recommend  the  murderous 
commodity  to  the  confidence  of  unsuspecting  peoples,  until 
the  use  has  developed  the  appetite,  after  which  there  is  no 
longer  occasion  for  lpypocrisy  on  the  part  of  alleged  Chris- 
tianity turned  Ivumseller. 

The  process  by  which  "Christian”  nations  are  to-day  killing 
off  the  remainder  of  the  human  race  is  a demonstration  that 
there  are  no  Christian  nations. 

Measured  by  what  they  do  to  others,  Christian  nations  are 
the  vilest  criminals,  the  very  murderers  of  mankind.  Instead 
of  civilizing  and  elevating  the  heathen  we  destroy  them.  It 
may  be  that  this  is  the  "order  of  Providence”  ; at  all  events 
17 


258 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


they  disappear.  By  a combined  process  of  rum-selling  and 
psalm-singing  Ave  "improve”  these  weaker  brethren  from  the 
face  of  the  earth — we  promote  their  emigration  out  of  it.  And 
noAY  AATe  are  AATell  on  our  way  in  this  great  crime  of  assassinat- 
ing the  race  by  poison  administered  in  the  robes  of  Chris- 
tianity at  the  victim’s  expense  of  bod}7,  soul  and  estate. 

This  thing  will  be  set  right  sometime  as  surely  as  there  is 
a God.  Take  for  example  the  people  of  India.  There  are 
two  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  them.  With  more  or  less 
of  success,  missionaries  of  both  Catholic  and  Protestant  Chris- 
tianity have  long  been  teaching  a holy  religion  and  the  advan- 
tages of  a higher  life  to  the  people  of  India.  During  many 
years  France  and  England  contended  for  the  political  mastery, 
but  for  a century  past  Hindostan  has  been  a British  province 
and  her  accumulated  wealth  has  been  worked  like  one  A'ast 
mine  for  gold.  Many  blessings  have  been  conferred  upon 
India  by  English  statesmanship,  and  especially  by  the  upright- 
administration  of  private  law. 

But  in  these  latter  days  the  traffic  in  alcohol  and  in  Able 
combinations,  of  which  it  is  a part,  has  increased,  and  is 
increasing  to  such  extent  as  to  threaten  the  extinction  of  one 
sixth  of  the  population  of  the  globe  within  a few  generations, 
unless  its  lvrvages  be  arrested.  Such  an  assertion  seems  to 
be  madness — but  what  are  the  facts  ? Here  are  all  these  mul- 
titudes— perhaps  eighty  millions  of  them  Mohammedans  ; the 
rest  Buddhists,  and  all  forbidden  the  use  of  intoxicating  beA’- 
erages  by  their  religion.  TChateArer  else  may  be  said  of  their 
former  condition  or  of  their  present  inclination,  until  forced 
or  tempted  by  their  conquerors  and  the  greed  of  a criminal 
commerce,  they  were  a sober  people.  Whatever  of  evil  there 
may  Inwe  been  inflicted  upon  them  by  their  superstitions  and 
by  war,  they  were  at  least  free,  comparatively,  from  the  worse 
horrors  of  general  intoxication. 

Professor  Parkes  states  : 

A great  evil  is  growing  up  in  Iudia  which  now  could  be  checked, 
but  which  we  shall  be  powerless  to  meet  in  a few  years.  The 
Hindoos,  formerly  the  most  temperate  of  races,  are  rapidly  becom- 
ing addicted  to  drink.  This  is  said  to  be  partly  owing  to  the  regula- 
tions of  government  permitting,  and  even  encouraging,  the  sale  of 
spirits,  although  alcoholic  liquors  form  no  part  of  the  ordinary 


L 


Mrs.  Hannah  Whitall  Smith , 

American  Secretary,  World's  W.  C.  7\  U. 


DRINKING  HABITS  OF  NATIVES  OF  INDIA. 


259 


food  of  the  people  and  therefore  their  prohibition  is  not  difficult ; 
and  partly  from  the  bad  example  of  the  Europeans  in  India,  who, 
as  the  dominant  race,  are  impressing  more  and  more  the  nations 
which  they  control.  It  seems  a matter  which  our  statesmen  may 
well  look  into,  for  it  involves  the  happiness  of  many  nations. 

One  would  certainly  think  that  in  his  last  observation  the 
Professor  is  right. 

The  Rev.  J.  Gilson  Gregson,  long  an  English  missionary' 
in  India,  whose  writings  upon  the  subject  are  of  unques- 
tioned authority  in  treating  of  the  " Drinking  habits  among 
the  natives  of  India  ” in  a formal  paper  prepared  for  the 
British  and  Colonial  Temperance  Congress  held  in  London  in 
the  month  of  July,  1886,  says  : 

Thus  we  have  reliable  evidence  to  prove  that  drinking  is  rapidly 
becoming  a national  custom  amongst  a people  who  were  abstain- 
ers by  personal  habits  and  religious  principles  until  we  corrupted 
them  with  our  Anglican  intoxicants  and  social  usages  ; unless  some 
effort  is  made  for  the  prohibition  of  the  manufacture  of  drink  and 
its  exportation  from  England,  the  demoralizing  influence  of  drink- 
ing customs  will  be  a curse  to  the  empire  more  destructive  in  its 
consequences  than  the  heathen  customs  of  their  forefathers.  . . . 
In  estimating  the  consequences  of  drinking  customs  imported 
into  the  country  by  Europeans,  and  forced  upon  them  for  the 
requirements  of  social  intercourse  and  exacting  revenues,  we 
believe  them  to  be  crimes  of  equal  magnitude  with  those  caused  by 
sutteeism,  infanticide  and  fanaticism,  and  therefore  require  the 
same  prohibitory  legislation  to  remove  the  curse  of  drink  which  is 
settling  upon  the  empire  like  a black  thunder  cloud,  dooming  and 
destroying  its  inhabitants  with  relentless  cruelty  and  without 
mercy  either  to  rich  or  poor,  educated  or  uneducated,  Hindoo, 
Mohammedan  or  European.  The  ravages  of  the  drink  fiend  are  to 
be  found  among  all  classes  without  an}r  regard  to  position  or 
respect  of  persons. 

Iveshub  Chunder  Sen,  r'  the  eminent  leader  of  educated 
natives,”  again  and  again  has  denounced  the  terrible  evils  of 
drink,  says  the}r  are  increasing  year  bjr  year,  whole  families 
having  been  swept  away  by  it.  He  plaintively  remarked  to 
the  missionary,  " My  countrymen  have  not  the  same  consti- 
tution as  yours  and  therefore  die  sooner  when  they  take  to 
drink.” 

Mr.  Gregson  says  that  to  such  an  extent  has  drunkenness 


260 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


prevailed  among  the  native  Christian  community,  induced  by 
their  contact  with  the  Europeans,  that  the  heathen  regard  the 
use  of  intoxicating  liquor  as  a sign  of  a Christian,  aud  believe 
that  " eating  pork  and  drinking  liquor  form  the  principal 

features  of  native  Christian  life The  condition  of 

educated  gentlemen  is  becoming  more  and  more  deplorable.” 
A leader  of  native  thought  writes  as  follows  : " The  educated 
classes  betake  themselves  chiefly  to  imported  liquors.  YCe 
consider  the  government  to  be  entirely  responsible  for  this 
state  of  things.”  Mr.  Gregson  quotes  as  follows  from  another 
authority  • " The  statistics  of  native  gentlemen  who  drink 

are  simply  terrible.  I asked  a first  rate  native  doctor  some 
time  ago  what  he  thought  was  the  propoi’tion  of  men  who 
drank  among  the  educated  classes  and  he  at  once  said  about 

90  per  cent and  native  doctors  have  told  me  that 

deaths  from  delirium  tremens  are  very  common 

and  we  have  reason  to  believe  that  drink  is  being  introduced 
into  the  zenana,  for  the  women  to  indulge  in  the  liquor  their 
husbands  are  so  exceedingly  fond  of.” 

The  Bengal  Commission  lately  reported  that  the  revenue 
from  native  liquor  lias  increased  23,000,000  of  rupees  within 
six  years.  According  to  the  present  system  of  taxation  nearly 
eveiy  village  has  a liquor  shop,  known  among  the  simple- 
minded  natives  as  the  government  liquor  shop,  and  they  con- 
sider that  they  are  conferring  a favor  upon  the  government 
by  purchasing  this  taxed  liquor.  There  are  those  in  America 
who  take  the  same  view  of  the  subject  at  home. 

Mr.  Gregson  states  his  opinion  to  be  that  " so  long  as 
liquor  is  regarded  as  a legitimate  source  of  revenue,  it  is  im- 
possible to  prevent  the  spread  of  drunkenness  throughout  the 
length  and  breadth  of  the  Empire,”  and  that  it  is  sad  beyond 
expression  that  the  " civilizing  and  educational,  and  even 
religious,  surroundings,  of  educated  natives  have  been  ruined 
and  corrupted  by  the  drinking  habits  of  their  teachers.” 

Mr.  Stephen  H.  Kearsey,  of  Mankapar  Gouda,  Oudh,  in  a 
very  carefully  prepared  paper,  confirms  the  general  statements 
above  cited  in  regard  to  India  and  Burmah.  He  says,  speak- 
ing of  the  Burmese,  that  the  religion  is  Buddhism,  one  of  the 
five  commandments  being,  " Thou  shalt  not  drink  nor  touch 
any  strong  drink,”  that  the  British  occupation  of  lower 


SOME  OF  THE  VICES  WHICH  FOLLOW  COLONIZATION.  261 

Burmali  carried  with  it  many  blessings,  but  that  there  is  a sad 
reverse  to  the  picture,  that  in  the  wake  of  the  British  came  the 
grog  shop,  opium  dens  and  prostitution.  "We  have  now 
annexed  upper  Burmali,  and  a friend  writing  to  the  press  from 
Bhamo  states  that  it  is  now  a fearful  place  for  cheap  drink 
and  heavy  crime.  A liquor  manufactured  from  rice  lime,”  he 
says,  "will  dissolve  a Martini  bullet  in  thirty  minutes  and 
burns  the  inside  of  those  who  drink  it.”  But  it  seems  that  the 
natives  reduce  this  before  drinking  it ; " they  invariably  make 
a tablespoonful  go  as  far  as  European  drinkers  do  a quart.” 
The  writer  does  not  state  which  kills  furthest,  the  liquor  or  the 
bullet,  but  the  liquor  must  be  the  surer  death,  for  it  goes 
straight  to  the  citadel  of  life. 

A native  of  Calcutta  says  : "The  vice  of  drunkenness  has 
been  making  very  considerable  progress  within  the  last  five- 
and-twenty  years.  Among  my  office  mates  of  those  days 
(a  quarter  of  a century  since),  only  about  ten  per  cent,  drank 
at  all,  and  only  two  were  drunkards.  A similar  reckoning  now 
would  give  fifty  per  cent,  of  drinkers  and  at  least  eight  or  ten 
per  cent,  of  drunkards.”  He  adds  that  the  doctors  are  among 
those  who  help  to  spread  the  vice.  A resident  English  mer- 
chant gives  similar  testimony  in  regard  to  the  important  and 
populous  island  of  Ceylon. 

Surgeon-major  R.  Pringle,  M.  D.,  of  Her  Majesty’s  Bengal 
army,  who  has  had  thirty  years  experience  in  India,  furnished 
an  invaluable  paper  to  the  Congress.  He  notes  an  improve- 
ment in  the  drinking  habits  of  Europeans  within  the  last  thirty 
years,  but  grieves  "to  say  a very  different  account  must  be 
given  of  the  effects  of  western  civilization  and  rule  on  the 
drinking  habits  of  the  natives  of  India.  With  the  exception 
of  the  Presidency  towns  and  among  the  camp  followers  attached 
to  or  resident  in  the  old  military  cantonments,  drinking  habits 
among  the  natives  were  practically  unknown.  The  Moham- 
medan shunned  spirits  as  shrclb  (shame  water) , and  the  respect- 
able or  high-cast  Hindu  as  to  him  the  mark  of  degradation ; 

now,  alas,  all  is  changed ; as  regards  the 

lower  and  laboring  classes  among  the  natives  of  India,  there 
is  serious  reason  to  believe  that  intemperance  is  making  fear- 
ful strides,  or  rather  bounds,  among  them.  If  we  take  the 
instance  of  Assam,  in  ten  years  the  receipts  from  excise  duty 


262 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


in  this  province  have  risen  from  $37,675  to  $114,145.  Now 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  these  recipts  are  derived  from 
liquor  drunk  by  the  Coolies  on  the  tea  estates.  I have  known 
the  northwest  provinces  for  three  years  longer  than  the  period 
given  in  the  table  under  notice,  and  can  speak  from  a personal 
knowledge  of  one  third  of  the  population  of  those  provinces, 
and  I can  unhesitatingly  state  that  this  liquor  revenue  for  all 
practical  purposes  is  gathered  from  the  poorest  of  the  poor ; 
that  it  is  gathered  in  a way  which  is  a disgrace  to  a country 
guided  in  its  actions  by  the  Christian  religion  ; that  the  good 
done  by,  and  in  the  name  of,  the  Empress  of  India  is  worse 
than  undone  by  the  measures  adopted  to  raise  the  revenue  ; 
that  to  spread  the  blessings  of  hospitals,  dispensaries  and 
vaccination  over  the  country  is  little  better  than  a mockery  in 

the  face  of  this  demoralizing  traffic I can  speak  for 

10,000,000  in  the  northwest  provinces  when  I state  that  if 
local  self-government  were  granted  not  a grog  shop  would 
remain  in  twelve  months ; the  Mohammedans  would  not  soil 
their  fingers  with  rupees  gathered  by  " shame  water  ” ; and  the 
Hindu  would  gladly  avail  himself  of  the  opportunity  of  show- 
ing his  contempt  for  and  disgust  with  the  co-religionist  whose 
thirst  for  silver  was  so  great  that  he  bought  at  auction  the 
privilege  to  sell  the  government  "shame  water."  "Twenty 
years  personal  observation  of  the  Dedhra  Dhoon  in  the  north- 
western provinces  has  demonstrated  to  me  the  appalling  fact 
that  the  entire  race  of  hereditary  owners  of  the  soil  have  all 
been  swept  off  by  drink.” 

What  must  be  thought  of  a government  which  makes  it  and 
forces  it  upon  these  hundreds  of  millions  who  are  total  ab- 
stainers by  natural  inclination  and  by  the  precepts  of  their 
ancient  faith  ! Here  is  religious  liberty  with  a vengeance  ! 

The  revenue  from  liquor  is  raised  by  what  is  called  the  out- 
still  system — stills  that  are  outside  of  government  control. 
Any  man  who  buys  the  excise  contract  of  a province  can 
open  stills  all  over  it,  and  so  instead  of  one  central  still  you 
have  them  everywhere.  The  privilege  is  often  turned  into 
joint  stock  companies.  Every  shareholder  is  constituted  a 
brewer  or  maker,  and  the  consequence  is  that  he  pushes  the 
trade  in  every  way  so  that  the  dividend  may  be  larger.  By 
the  out-still  system  these  contracts  haA'e  become  exceedingly 


INDIA  A GARDEN  OF  DEATH. 


263 


valuable "I  very  much  prefer  that  government 

should  control  one  central  still  rather  than  spread  out  stills 
right  through  the  province.”  This  explanation  of  the  " system  ” 
is  by  Mr.  Cfregson. 

The  evidence  is  overwhelming  and  uncontradicted  that  India 
is  being  rapidly  converted  into  a garden  of  death,  where 
alcoixil  more  than  fills  the  place  of  pestilence,  famine  and 
sword.  These  are  facts  recently  coming  to  the  attention  of 
the  English  people,  and  it  cannot  be  that  this  brave  and 
aggressive  people,  although  they  may  continue  to  poison  them- 
selves, as  we  do  in  America  also,  will  continue  the  tacit  and 
cowardly  assassination  of  the  unwilling  millions  in  their  grasp. 
Still  there  is  the  precedent  of  opium  forced  upon  the  Chinese. 

There  was  in  attendance  upon  the  session  of  the  Temper- 
ance Congress  in  London,  1886,  Mr.  Nanda  Lai  Ghosh,  a 
native  of  India  and  barrister-at-law,  who,  as  one  of  the  few  of 
his  countrymen  who  "have  been  privileged  to  receive  an 
English  education,”  requested  to  be  allowed  to  say  that  he 
had  been  an  abstainer  up  to  date  and  hoped  to  remain  so  to 
the  last.  He  then  proceeded:  "I  agree  with  the  papers” 
(those  presented  to  the  Congress)  "as  regards  the  natives  of 
all  classes  of  Indians  and  the  drink  traffic.  The  temperance 
question  is  not  only  a question  of  morality,  but  also  an  econom- 
ical question.  About  40,000,000  of  people  in  India  do  not 
have  enough  food  from  year’s  end  to  year’s  end,  and  when 
this  poison  of  drink  is  spread  among  them  what  will  be  the 
economical  condition  of  India?  We  have  statistics  and  we 
know  well  that  the  people  are  in  abject  poverty,  and  yet  there 
comes  the  demon  of  drink  to  intensify  their  misery — introduced 
by  a Christian  government.  I appeal  to  you  to 

abolish  the  poison  of  drink.” 

But  I have  not  space  to  more  than  note  the  introduction 
and  rapid  increase  of  the  traffic  with  China,  already  so  afflicted 
by  the  opium  habit  forced  upon  her  by  the  imperious  demands 
of  a Christian  commerce.  Says  an  observer  cited  by  Bev. 
Canon  Ellison,  M.  A.,  Chairman  of  the  Church  of  England 
Temperance  Society,  in  an  address  read  at  the  Oxford  Diocesan 
Temperance  Anniversary,  Oct.  25,  1886  : "In  China  thirteen 
years  ago  you  could  hardly  see  a drunken  man  anywhere, 
more  especially  in  Shanghai ; but  that  now'  if  you  go  down 


2G4 


THE  TE31PEEAXCE  MOVEMENT. 


the  principal  streets  you  will  see  hundreds  of  Chinamen  in- 
toxicated, not  with  native  drinks,  but  with  those  imported 
from  this  country  ” (England) . 

I take  the  following  from  the  Missionary  Herald  of  Janu- 
ary, 1884,  kindly  furnished  me  with  other  valuable  matter  by 
Dr.  Clark,  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  : 

The  pastor  of  a Methodist  church  in  the  north  of  Japan  has 
contributed  to  the  Christian  Weekly , of  Tokio,  a notable  article  on 
sake  drinking.  Besides  ably  discussing  the  question  in  the  sanitary 
and  religious  aspects,  he  gives  some  very  striking  and  interesting 
facts. 

It  seems  that  the  Chinese  Emperor  Buo,  three  thousand  years 
ago,  was  a radical  temperance  reformer.  His  laws  on  the  subject 
were  very  strict,  and  their  violation  was  punished  by  death.  This 
system,  somewhat  modified,  was  afterwards  introduced  into  Japan, 
where  it  remained  in  force  nearly  a thousand  years.  But  its  influ- 
ence has  long  since  been  lost.  To-day  intemperance  is  one  of  the 
growing  and  desperate  evils  of  Japan.  The  Japanese  spend  yearly 
80,000,000  yen,  or  more  than  60,000,000  dollars  for  sake , in  the 
manufacture  of  which  26,000,000  bushels  of  rice  are  consumed,  or 
almost  one  fifth  of  the  total  yield  of  the  country,  leaving  a short 
allowance  for  food,  and  none  for  export.  This  one  drink  costs  the 
people  as  much  as  does  their  entire  government.  The  temperance 
question  is,  then,  for  Japan,  as  for  many  another  more  Christian  land, 
a very  serious  and  pressing  one,  which  we  hope  the  present  large 
outpouring  of  the  Spirit  will  do  much  to  solve. 

Everything  indicates  that  the  control  of  Asia  will  be  divided 
between  European  powers  and  that  the  far  larger  portion  of 
the  people  of  that  great  continent  will  receive  their  destiny  from 
England  and  Bussia.  By  both  political  and  commercial  power 
England  has  given  direction  already  to  the  fate  of  India  and 
has  practically  injected  the  blood  of  China  with  opium  and 
rum.  Russia,  "where  temperance  societies  never  have  taken 
root,"  and  where  the  policy  of  the  government  is  to  encourage 
the  consumption  of  strong  drink  for  the  sake  of  revenue — so 
that  the  people  die  of  drink  and  patriotism — is  spreading  the 
wings  of  her  power  over  nearly  the  whole  width  of  the  con- 
tinent in  her  tireless  flight  to  the  Oriental  seas — and  with  her 
go  the  drinking  habits  of  her  people  and  her  system  of  taxa- 
tion for  revenue.  Wherever  France,  Germany,  Holland, 
Portugal  and  Spain  hold  possession,  the  Demon  of  Drink 


THE  DARK  CONTINENT. 


265- 


holds  joint  occupation  with  them,  and  thus  it  is  that  Asia  and 
her  eight  hundred  millions  are  threatened  by  this  Christian 
curse. 

AFRICA  AND  THE  CONGO  FREE  STATE. 

Africa  is  the  home  of  two  hundred  millions  of  the  race 
whose  hopeless  fate  has  been  the  theme  of  lament  and  com- 
miseration for  ages.  But  notwithstanding  internal  wars  and 
the  horrors  of  the  slave  trade,  which  have  prevailed  there 
from  the  earliest  times,  numerous  and  powerful  nations  have 
developed  within  her  unknown  recesses,  and  have  attained  to 
such  enjoyment  oi  life  as  is  possible  in  a land  of  unsurpassed 
fertility,  immense  and  spontaneous  production,  and  high 
forms  of  barbaric  art.  Although  there  have  been  attempts 
at  settlement  along  her  whole  western,  southern  and  eastern 
coasts,  ever  since  the  discovery  of  the  route  to  India  by  way 
of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  something  of  legitimate  com- 
merce, as  well  as  the  sordid  atrocities  of  the  traffic  in  slaves, 
was  established  with  the  interior  regions,  still  the  European 
had  never  penetrated  the  mysteries  of  the  dark  continent 
until  Livingstone  and  Stanley,  and  other  great  discoverers 
associated  with  them,  revealed  the  route  and  sources  of  the 
Congo,  and  laid  bare  the  secrets  of  the  Nile.  Suddenly  a new 
world  with  its  tremendous  possibilities  rose  upon  the  vision 
of  commercial  nations,  and  aroused  the  anxiety  of  the  philan- 
thropist at  the  same  time  that  it  excited  both  enterprise  and 
cupidity  to  the  highest  exertions. 

The  Congo  valley  contains  900,000  square  miles  and 
50,000,000  of  people ; or  one  third  as  much  territory  as  that 
of  the  United  States,  which  is  capable  of  improvement,  with 
the  same  population  of  our  own  country  according  to  the 
census  of  1880.  By  some,  however,  the  population  is  fixed 
at  40,000,000.  It  is  at  once  apparent  that  no  such  densit}^  of' 
population  is  consistent  with  the  idea  of  the  savage  state. 
There  must  be  a very  considerable  advance  in  the  arts  of  life 
or  no  such  population  could  exist  even  in  this  region  of  trop- 
ical abundance.  The  Congo  is  navigable  for  1000  miles  in 
the  very  center  of  Africa.  The  great  stream  is  like  the  aorta  to 
the  heart,  and  in  coming  centuries  should  bear  on  its  majestic 
bosom  the  interchange  of  all  nations  with  at  least  two  hundred 
millions  of  civilized  and  enlightened  descendants  from  the 


266 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


vigorous  barbarians  who  now  inhabit  its  basin  and  the  regions 
drained  by  its  tributaries.  Anticipating  what  must  yet  be, 
the  nations  of  Europe  and  the  United  States  recognized  the 
"International  African  Trading  Association”  as  the  "Free 
Congo  State,”  guaranteeing  its  existence  with  a national  flag, 
and  power  to  make  treaties  with  the  various  tribes  of  whom 
titles  could  be  acquired  to  lands  and  other  property  and  the 
permanent  freedom  of  commerce  in  and  along  the  river  secured. 
The  motives  actuating  the  thirteen  powers  which  gave  inter- 
national recognition  of  the  Free  State  of  the  Congo  were,  on 
paper  at  least,  highly  honorable  to  them  all,  and  in  their 
action  the  United  States  bore  a conspicuous  part.  IVe  must 
therefore  assume  a corresponding  responsibility  in  securing 
the  ends  proposed  by  the  Congress  at  Berlin. 

The  Mohammedan  religion  prevails  in  the  north  of  Africa, 
including  Egypt,  and  wherever  that  religion  flourishes,  unless 
its  precepts  are  set  aside  by  other  and  more  powerful  influ- 
ences, the  vice  of  intemperance  is  almost  unknown.  But  in 
the  rest  of  the  continent  this  vice  has  flourished  with  little 
restraint.  The  African  has  always  provided  for  himself  some 
juice  or  acid  with  which  to  become  intoxicated,  and  thus  kindle 
his  rage  for  war  or  enliven  his  daily  dance  and  the  songs  of 
his  musical  nature. 

But  until  the  advent  of  the  European  slave  trader  and  gin 
trader,  no  increase  of  the  drinking  habit  is  supposed  to  have 
taken  place  for  ages.  These  heathen  have  seemed  to  be  free 
from  the  intensity  of  appetite  which  is  developed  by  the 
strong  drinks  of  civilization. 

The  exigencies  of  these  two  "trades  ,”  (in  slaves  and  gin), 
which  should  never  be  sanctified  with  an}'  such  designation — 
they  are  simply  infinite  crimes  of  which  the  former  in  its  effects 
is  far  the  more  innocent  of  the  two — have  led  to  the  intro- 
duction of  the  alcohol  of  civilization,  which  destroys  like  the 
pestilence  of  the  Middle  Ages,  where  the  drink  of  the  native 
was  comparatively  harmless. 

Horace  TTaller,  F.  B.  G.  S.,  has  prepared  a pamphlet  which 
embodies  the  information  collected  by  delegates  appointed  by 
the  various  Missionary  societies  working  in  Africa  to  consider 
the  question  of  the  liquor  traffic  in  that  continent,  which  was 
published  the  present  year.  From  this  pamphlet  mam'  im- 


STARTLING  STATISTICS. 


267 


portant  facts  in  this  chapter  are  derived.  Referring  to  the 
early  period  of  the  slave  trade,  Mr.  Mailer  savs  : 

So  far  he  (the  African)  was,  perhaps,  neither  better  nor  worse 
by  flux  of  time  when  the  Bristol  merchant  found  him  out  and  when 
plantations  yearned  for  his  presence.  Here  then  we  come  to  the 
indictment  against  the  white  merchant  which  extends  back  over 
many  generations.  He  is  accused  of  having  found  the  African 
very  much  given  to  carouse  and  drink,  and  he  has  engrafted  upon 
this  desire  an  intensified  one  which  will  be  satisfied  with  nothing 
short  of  gin  and  rum.  “ If  Pombi  ” has  slain  its  thousands,  alco- 
hol has,  in  its  turn,  destroyed  its  millions,  and  every  drop  of  it  has 
been  taken  by  the  tribes.  ....  For  hundreds  of  miles  in  the  interior 
the  square-shouldered  bottles  are  as  well  known  as  the  beads  and 
brass  wire  which  are  the  usual  currency,  and  along  their  path 

sorrow  follows The  drinking  idea  is  inseparable  from  the 

notion  of  European  life  ....  whatever  milk  of  human  kindness  the 
traders  may  have  possessed  at  one  time  seems  to  have  passed  into 
a milk  punch  stage.  ....  The  degradation  of  the  wretched  tribes 
of  West  Africa  has  reached  a depth  which  is  appalling. 

Mr.  Mailer  then  gives  a statement  showing  the  quantities 
and  values  of  spirits  of  all  kinds  exported  from  the  following 
countries  during  recent  years.  Other  shipments  probably 
were  made  from  Germany,  but  no  reliable  statistics  could  be 


obtained. 

Gallons. 

Value. 

Great  Britain  sent  in 

1884 

602,328 

£117.143 

Germany 

u u 

1884 

7,136,263 

713,634 

Portugal 

u it 

1882 

91.524 

6,166 

America 

t;  u 

1884-5 

921,412 

56,889 

8,751,527 

£893,832 

All  accounts  agree  that  the  trade  has  immensely  increased 
since  these  years.  It  will  be  observed  that  the  export  of  each 
nation  is  given  hut  for  a single  year,  and  that  by  adulterations 
and  cheating  in  various  ways  for  this  amount  of  alcohol  great 
■values  of  native  commodities  will  be  received  in  exchange. 

Mr.  James  Irvine,  of  Liverpool,  who  is  vouched  for  by  Mr. 
Mailer  as  specially  fitted  to  testif}',  says  : 

The  extent  of  the  trade  is  so  prodigious  that  I think  the  follow- 
ing estimate  of  the  quantity  annually  poured  into  “ the  rivers”  or 
the  delta  of  the  Niger  is  sufficiently  eloquent  and  relieves  me  from 
the  necessity  of  further  remark  regarding  the  evil.  Such  a flood  of 


2G8 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


rum  cannot  be  consumed  without  causing  an  awful  amount  of 
demoralization.  It  is  not  possible  to  get  at  actual  shipments, 
but  I am  sure  I do  not  over  estimate  the  quantity  when  I put  down 
sixty  thousand  hogsheads  of  fifty  gallons  each  (three  million  gallons) 
as  the  annual  consumption  in  the  rivers  of  Niger,  Benin,  Brass,  New 
Calabar,  Bonny,  Opobo,  Old  Calabar,  Cameroons,  etc.  In  other 
words,  this  compressed  space  lying  between  four  degrees  and  eight 
minutes  east  longitude,  or  say  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  of 
coast,  consumes  twenty  thousand  tons,  or  say  twenty  ships  full,  of 
one  thousand  tons  each,  every  year.  The  amazing  thing  is  that  all 
this  traffic  is  conducted  in  the  main  by  not  over  a dozen  firms,  the 
members  of  which  are  most  excellent  men,  many  of  them,  I believe, 
sincere  Christians. 

That  is  the  trouble  about  this  whole  business.  If  " excel- 
lent men  ” and  " sincere  Christians  ” would  let  it  alone,  the 
devil  would  be  beaten  out  of  it  by  his  own  sense  of  shame 
and  disgrace.  But  as  long  as  he  can  conceal  his  tail  and  sit 
at  the  communion  table,  why  shouldn’t  these  poor  wretches 
in  Africa  and  America  continue  to  be  turned  into  hell? 
Flowers  from  Eden  to  garland  the  neck  of  the  Snake ! 
Mr.  Irvine  proceeds  : " Convince  them  they  are  wrong  and 
induce  them  to  withdraw,  and  what  is  accomplished  ? Simply 
worse  men  take  their  place.”  Doubted — denied — there  are 
no  worse  men  than  Christians  who  sell  rum.  But  not  to 
interrupt  Mr.  Irvine  again.  "TThen  for  fifteen  years  I con- 
ducted my  business  without  it,  I was  constantly  asked  what 
was  accomplished,  and  told  that,  if  I continued  to  decline,  as 
much  rum  as  ever  would  go  in.  I felt  between  me  and  Africa 
that  was  true,  but  between  me  and  my  conscience  it  was 
another  matter,  and  ultimately  I withdrew,  as  success  was 
impossible  without  it.  Notwithstanding  I cordially  join  with 
you  in  believing  that  no  effort  should  be  spared  to  stop  or 
reduce  the  evil — it  is  the  Lord’s  work  and  he  can  succeed  in 
ways  unthought  of  by  us  at  present.” 

Now  I am  going  to  stop  the  book  right  here  to  say  a word  for 
Mr.  James  Irvine  of  Liverpool — the  man  who  gave  up  his  profit- 
able business  because  he  had  a conscience.  Such  men  save 
nations  as  Lot  saved  Sodom.  If  in  England  and  America  there 
were  ten  such  men,  they  might  save  the  world.  The  liquor  trade 
is  full  of  the  other  kind  of  excellent  men  and  Christians.  Thejr 


Mary  Allen  West , 

Editor  of  “ The  Union  Signal." 


GIN  VERSUS  MISSIONARIES. 


269 


are  not  all  hypocrites.  Many  of  them  suffer  untold  pangs  of 
conscience  as  they  ply  their  deadly  vocation  for  sustenance 
and  accumulation.  Circumstances  have  made  them  the  man- 
agers of  these  social,  state,  national  and  international  crimes, 
but  society — that  is  you  and  I,  and  they  and  all  of  us — which 
has  the  power  to  destroy,  is  responsible  for  the  wickedness 
of  its  agents,  and  what  the  state  permits,  it  does. 

Mr.  Waller  further  observes  that  we  cannot  get  at  the  full 

extent  of  the  disease ; we  are  in  the  dark  as  to  the 

■extent  of  the  evil  with  which  France  is  mixed  up,  and  her 
trade  and  energy  is  just  now  conspicuous  on  the  African  sea- 
board. Neither  can  we  go  into  the  quality  of  the  stuff  dealt 
out  to  the  native  tribes.  In  some  instances,  spirit  of  great 
strength,  which  is  diluted  many  times  before  even  the  throat  of 
a Brass  River  negro  can  tolerate  it,  is  used,  and  this  traffic  is 
also  forcing  its  way  into  east  Africa.  In  1883,  Archdeacon 
Hamilton  wrote  from  Brass  River  that  one  of  the  National 
African  Co.’s  steamers  recently  carried  25,000  cases  of  gin 
and  demijohns  of  rum,  and  this  was  a supply  for  two  factories 
only,  and  observing  its  effects  upon  the  people  of  the  town 
of  Bonny,  March  5,  1885,  he  thus  concludes  his  narrative: 
"It  appears  to  be  the  common  practice  to  drink  gin  in  the  morn- 
ing and  turnbo  (palm  wine)  in  the  evening,  so  that  there  are 
other  evils  to  contend  with  beside  heathenism  and  cannibalism. 

Rev.  Hugh  Goldie,  missionary  at  Old  Calabar  nearty  forty 
years,  in  the  United  Presbyterian  Magazine — I condense  all 

that  I can — says  : " Thus  brutalized  by  the  slave 

trade  they  give  themselves  to  the  indulgence  of  their  lusts 

and  appetites  to  the  utmost  extent  of  their  means.” 

He  speaks  of  "the  utter  degradation  into  Avliich  that  traffic 

sunk  them  by  the  fire  water  found  among  them, which 

neutralizes  the  efforts  of  the  church  more  than  the  heathenism 

of  the  country the  people  are  generally  in  a state  of 

.semi-intoxication,  disinclined  to  listen,  caring  for  nothing  but 
strong  drink.  As  far  into  the  interior  as  we  have  penetrated 
the  gin  bottle  had  preceded  us.  Even  commercial  benefits 
are  lost  by  the  destruction  of  the  very  people  with  Avhorn  the 
commerce  is  attempted.”  He  expresses  great  regret  that  the 
Berlin  conference  on  the  formation  of  the  "Free  Congo  State” 
did  not  exclude  the  drink  traffic.  A great  part  of  the  fire 


270 


THE  TEMPEEAKCE  MOVE  ME  XT. 


water  is  from  Germany — indeed  that  empire  seems  to  be 
utterly  reckless  in  its  greed  for  commercial  returns.  A Glas- 
gow firm  formerly  employed  a large  number  of  looms  weav- 
ing cloth  for  the  African  market — now  they  have  not  one.  A 
trader  wrote  from  Calabar  river  to  his  principals  to  send  no 
more  cloth — drink  was  the  article  in  demand,  and  Mr.  Joseph 
Thompson,  F.  K.  G.  S.,  says  that  the  drink  traffic  will  render 
the  anticipated  demand  for  calico  in  the  Niger  regions,  where 
he  had  journeyed,  hopeless.  " The  Christian  community  in 
past  times  aroused  the  nation  to  abolish  the  slave  trade  and 
slavery  in  British  territory.  A like  task  is  now  before  it — 
the  awakening  of  the  nation  to  abolish  this  drink  traffic.” 
Mr.  Thompson,  whose  experience  with  the  African  tribes  is 
considerable,  says,  further:  "The  trade  in  this  baleful  article 
(spirits)  is  enormous.  The  appetite  for  it  increases  out  of 
all  proportion  to  the  desire  for  better  things,  and  to  our 
shame,  be  it  said,  we  are  ever  ready  to  suppl}’  the  victims  to 
the  utmost,  driving  them  deeper  and  deeper  into  the  slough 
of  depravity,  ruining  them  body  and  soul,  while  at  home  we 
talk  sanctimoniously  as  if  the  introduction  of  our  trade  and 
the  elevation  of  the  negro  went  hand  in  hand.” 

The  Africans  demonstrate  the  possession  of  a higher  and 
better  nature,  and  the  consciousness  of  impending  destruction, 
by  their  pathetic  and  heart-rending  appeals  to  the  nations, 
which  for  money  are  holding  by  force  the  accursed  poison  to 
their  lips. 

The  following  is  a translation  of  a letter  written  by  King 
Malike,  of  Xupe,  to  Bishop  Crowther,  himself  an  African. 
King  Malike  is  a Mohammedan. 

Salute  Crowther,  the  great  Christian  minister.  After  salutation, 

please  tell  him  he  is  a father  to  us  in  this  laud It  is  not  a long 

matter,  it  is  about  barasa  (rum  origin).  Barasa,  barasa , barasa, 
by  God ! it  has  ruined  our  country ; it  has  made  our  people 
become  mad.  I have  given  a law  that  no  one  dares  to  buy  or  sell 
it ; and  any  one  who  is  found  selling  it  his  house  is  to  be  eaten  up 
(plundered)  ; any  one  found  drunk  will  be  killed. 

I have  told  all  the  Christian  traders  that  I agree  to  everything 
for  trade  except  barasa.  I have  told  Mr.  McIntosh’s  people  to  say 
the  barasa  remaining  with  them  must  be  returned  down  the  river. 
Tell  Crowther,  the  great  Christian  minister,  he  his  our  father.  I 


AN  APPEAL  TO  BISHOP  CROW  THE  P . 


271. 


beg  you,  Milam  Kipo  (Mr.  Paul),  don’t  forget  this  writing,  because 
we  all  beg  that  he  (Crowther)  should  beg  the  great  priests  (the 
committee  of  the  church  missionary  society)  that  they  should  be<r 
the  English  Queen  to  prevent  bringing  barasu  into  this  land. 
“ For  God  and  the  Prophet’s  sake  for  God  and  the  Prophet  his 
messenger’s  sake,  he  must  help  us  in  this  matter — that  of  larasa. 
Me  have  all  confidence  in  him.  He  must  not  leave  our  country  to 
become  spoiled  by  barasa.  Tell  him  may  God  bless  him  in  his 
work.  This  is  the  word-mouth  from  Malike,  the  Emir  of  Nupe.” 

Malike  is  one  of  the  most  powerful  of  the  Mohammedan 
rulers,  and  his  appeal  shows  how  even  the  restraints  of  the 
religion  of  the  Prophet  joined  to  the  " civil  power  ” -were 
insufficient  to  prevent  the  progress  of  this  commerce  in  death. 
It  is  pleasant  to  record  that  his  appeal  secured  co-operation 
from  the  National  African  Company,  and  the  consumption  in 
his  kingdom  had  lessened  25  per  cent,  last  year. 

The  Berlin  Conference,  in  founding  the  " Free  State  of  Con- 
go,” however,  was  captured  by  the  liquor  power,  notwith- 
standing the  efforts  of  the  British  envoy  and  our  own  Hon. 
John  A.  Ivasson,  who  made  strenuous  and  most  honorable  ex- 
ertions to  secure  the  exclusion  of  the  drink  traffic  from  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  "state.”  The  German,  Portuguese  and 
some  other  members  of  the  conference  obtained  for  the  traffic 
"freedom  of  trade”  and  now  it  is  said  that  at  least  four  fifths 
of  all  that  is  bought  by  civilization  of  Africa  through  the  Con- 
go valley  is  paid  for  with  strong  drink. 

SOUTH  AFRICA. 

Mr.  Mailer  says  that  the  Dutch  and  English  governments 
in  South  Africa  have  witnessed  the  extirpation  of  some  tribes 
entirely,  as,  for  instance,  the  Hottentot,  and  we  do  not  hesitate 
to  name  " brandy  ” as  the  agent  here.  The  Dutch  influence 
is  now  dominant  in  the  Cape  Parliament,  which  is  always  for 
the  distillers.  It  is  even  said  that  the  natives  are  becoming 
too  prosperous  in  some  regions,  and  the  brandy  cask  is  thrust 
in  for  their  destruction — in  other  words — deliberate  murder 
b}r  poisoning,  a government  engaged  in  assassination.  The 
only  other  historical  instance  like  this  which  occurs  to  me  is 
that  of  the  Old  Man  of  the  Mountain. 

Three  years  ago  the  government  commission  on  the  liquor 
traffic,  comprising  man}"  eminent  names,  reported  that : 


272 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


The  commission  has  been  deeply  impressed  with  the  emphatic 
and  urgent  representation  contained  in  nearly  all  the  evidence 
taken,  and  especially  from  the  natives  themselves,  on  the  evils 
arising  from  the  sale  and  consumption  of  strong  drinks.  All  this 
evidence  points  in  the  clearest  way  to  the  use  of  spirituous  liquors 
(chiefly  ardent  spirits  the  produce  of  the  distilleries)  as  an  unmiti- 
gated evil  to  the  native  races,  and  that  no  other  cause  or  influence  so 
directly  increases  idleness  and  crime  and  is  so  completely  destructive, 
not  only  of  all  progress  and  improvement,  but  even  of  the  reasonable 
hope  of  any  progress  or  improvement.  Those  members  of  the 
.commission  who,  for  the  purpose  of  taking  evidence,  had  occasion 
to  visit  the  Border  districts  were  eye  witnesses  of  the  mischief, 
wretchedness  and  misery  which  multiplied  facilities  for  the  sale  of 
.spirits,  by  licensed  canteens  in  the  neighborhood  of  native  locations, 
are  producing ; if  unchecked  it  can  only  have  one  result,  and 
that  is  the  entire  destruction  of  that  portion  of  the  natives  who 
acquire  the  taste  for  brandy.  All  the  better  class  of  natives,  and  even 
.the  heathen  and  uneducated  portion,  appear  to  be  conscious  of  this, 
.and  have  implored  the  commission  to  suppress  the  evil  which  is 
bringing  ruin  on  themselves  and  on  their  country. 

The  evidence  before  the  commission  was  from  " Ex-gov- 
ernors, like  Sir  Theo.  Shepstone,  K.  C.  M.  G.  ; Ex-king 
Cetewayo ; Great  Chiefs,  like  Kama;  English  Bishops,  Local 
Magistrates,  District  Inspectors,  Doctors  and  men  of  all  con- 
ditions, running  together  from  different  parts  of  South  Africa, 
and  making  common  cause  against  this  desolating  brandy 
drinking.” 

Bev.  Alan  G.  S.  Gibson,  M.  A.,  a missionary  working  in 
the  Transkei,  in  a memorandum  transmitted  to  the  delegates 
sitting  on  the  inquiry  at  the  church  missionary  rooms,  on  the 
17th  of  June,  1886,  discusses  the  question  at  length.  I quote 
a few  sentences  : " The  bulk  of  our  people  are  heathen  and 

uncivilized ; they  have  naturally  strong  passions,  and  no  mor- 
al, social  or  religious  checks  to  restrain  them ; the}*  must  be 
restrained  by  the  law  from  the  beginning.  It  is  a case  where 
there  can  be  no  medium,  and  of  this  the  natives  are  fully 
aware  themselves.” 

Speaking  of  a liquor  proclamation  promulgated  by  the  gov- 
ernment, the  natives  held  meetings  all  through  the  country  and 
protested  against  the  increased  facilities  for  the  purchase  of 
liquor,  which  they  themselves  would  derive  from  this  procla- 


A CRUSADE  IN  BASOUTOLAND. 


273 


Tnation,  and  so  strong  a public  opinion  was  brought  to  bear 
upon  government  that  the  proclamation  was  amended. 

Think  of  it ! A Christian  government  reformed  by  the 
public  opinion  of  savages.  What  a tribute  to  the  common 
people!  He  says:  "My  people,  whether  Christian  or  hea- 
then, were  unanimous  in  condemning  the  proclamation,  stating 
that  drink  had  ruined  other  tribes,  and  that  if  it  got  amongst 
themselves  it  would  ruin  them  also.  The  natives,  as  a whole, 
have  sufficient  common  sense  to  see  this ; they  have  not  suffi- 
cient to  abstain  from  drinking  when  it  is  in  their  power.” 
Mr.  Gibson  says  it  looks  " ominous  for  the  future,  as  the  liq- 
uor proclamation  has  now  been  followed  up  by  a measure,  car- 
ried in  Parliament,  abolishing  the  tax  on  brandy.” 

He  thinks  that  whatever  makes  liquor  more  expensive  is  a 
restraint  upon  its  use.  Mr.  Waller  observes  : " Again  as  in 
case  of  the  Nupe  people  we  see  in  this  instance  that  the  unfort- 
unate natives  beg  to  be  delivered  from  themselves 

we  can  trace  no  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  colonial  gov- 
ernment, swamped  as  it  is  by  the  Dutch  element,  to  respond 
to  the  appeal ; in  fact,  the  recent  removal  of  the  brandy  tax 
fairly  unmasks  all  remaining  mystery.” 

A most  singular  narrative  is  that  of  a temperance  crusade, 
(I  can  hardly  call  it  anything  else),  by  which  "Drunken  Ba- 
soutoland” has  been  converted  into  "Sober  Basoutoland.”  I 
can  give  only  the  merest  sketch,  and  this  I do  for  our 
encouragement  in  our  own  country.  " What  was  the  state  of 
affairs  in  Basoutoland  six  months  ago  is  well  known.  'Drunken 
Basoutoland  ! Riotous  Basoutoland  ! ’ has  been  the  com- 
mon talk  of  all  who  take  any  interest  in  its  future.  From 
■Caledon  to  the  heart  of  the  Blue  mountains,  brandy  had  be- 
come a curse  under  which  individuals,  families  and  the  whole 
tribe  were  crushed  without  any  visible  hope  of  rescue.  And 
yet,  incredible  as  it  may  look,  matters  have  suddenly  taken  a 
new  turn.  Our  chiefs  have  all  become  abstainers  and  use 
now  their  great  influence  to  oblige  their  subordinates  to  re- 
nounce strong  drinks.  It  is  a fact  that  for  the  last  six  months 

all  the  principal  chiefs  in  Basoutoland  have  not 

•even  tasted  liquor,  and  the  bulk  of  their  people  have  done 
the  same.  Strict  watch  is  kept  on  the  border  to  prevent 
either  the  Basutos  going  into  the  Free  State  and  buying  brandy 
18 


274 


TIIE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


there,  or  the  white  smugglers  entering  Basoutoland  with 
their  accursed  merchandise The  death  of  an  impor- 
tant head  man was  a solemn  warning  given  to  our 

drunken  chiefs.  Delirium  tremens  at  last  got  the  better  of  the 
iron  constitution  of  the  deceased  chief.  Everybody  knew  that 
drunkenness,  and  nothing  else,  had  brought  him  to  an  un- 
timely and  dreadful  end.  And,  all  the  other  chiefs  being  more 
or  less  affected  with  that  horrible  malady,  every  one  of  them 
had  good  reason  to  think  of  the  fate  which  awaited  him  if  he 
did  not  speedily  renounce  drinking.”  Then  follows  an  account 
of  the  way  they  did  it,  and  after  a few  paragraphs  which  read 
somewhat  like  the  proceedings  in  Ohio  we  are  told  "that  last 
but  not  least  we  had  a visit  from  the  chief,  Paulus  Mopeli, 

who  was  formerly  a member  of  our  church,  but  who 

long  ago  became  a heathen  again.” 

This  man  seems  to  have  been  a heathen  Gough  or  Father 
Mathew.  He  utilized  hymns  and  prayers,  and  moral  and  polit- 
ical orations,  and  made  a great  impression  on  all  who  heard  his 
clever  appeals  for  temperance  and  unity.  lie  held  out  hope 
even  to  the  Christians,  and  " to  him  I believe  is  Basoutoland 
indebted  to  a large  extent  for  the  happy  change  which  has 
been  already  recorded.”  But  famine  and  scarcity  of  money 
helped  them  some,  as  the  Basutos  were  not  able  to  buy  rum 
so  freely  as  formerly.  " Temptations  are  plentiful,  and  the 
people  are  weak.  TCith  trembling  hearts  and  much  prayer  we 
are  looking  at  the  course  of  events,  every  day  of  temperance 
being  one  more  security  against  the  overthrow  of  our  hopes. 
TChat  is  to  happen  in  coming  days  no  one  knows.  But  this 
we  know,  that  six  months  of  temperance  is  a wonderful 
achievement ; that  to  the  present  time  no  sign  of  an  impend- 
ing relapse  of  the  Basutos  into  drunkenness  is  to  be  discerned, 
and  that  with  God's  help  what  seems  now  to  be  a tem- 
porary lull  may  become  the  normal  and  definitive  state  of 
the  tribe.” 

Courage,  Europe  and  America  ! ITow  full  of  hope  for  us 
poor  Christian  nations  is  this  bright  and  beautiful  example  of 
Basoutoland  ! Xote  how  they  did  it.  The  big  chief  died  of 
delirium  tremens  and  the  rest  had  the  good  sense  to  be 
frightened.  Let  ours  do  the  same — several  big  chiefs  have 
died  already . They  stopped  the  importation  and  the  sale. 


AN  EXAMPLE  FOIi  CHRISTIANS. 


275 


They  utilized  famine  and  poverty  which  we  shall  he  able  to 
do  presently  if  we  continue  in  our  present  course.  They 
tried  moral  suasion,  and  prohibitory  law,  which  they  enforced 
in  earnest.  Both  heathen  and  Christian  lent  a hand.  And 
they  did  it.  Let  us  do  likewise.  Here  are  our  superiors. 
Let  us  learn  wisdom  from  them. 

Seize  hold  of  truth  where’er  ’tis  found 

On  Christian  or  on  heathen  ground. 

All  hail,  Basoutoland  ! Hope  of  the  world  ! To  thee  we  dip 
every  flag  of  civilization.  God  grant  that  thy  bad  old  white 
companions  may  not  seduce  thee  again  to  thy  cups,  for,  if 
savages  cannot  reform,  what  hope  have  we  ! 

How  the  whole  business  cheapens  civilization  and  shames 
the  cheek  of  even  our  hypocrisy  with  red-hot  blush  ! 

But  we  must  not  linger  on  this  oasis  in  the  desert.  " Some- 
how or  other  things  always  go  wrong  in  Africa,”  and  we  find 
the  Portuguese  a few  miles  up  the  coast  admitting  spirits  of  all 
kinds  at  three  pence  per  gallon.  The  Transvaal  is  soon  to 
be  cursed  with  a railroad,  and  then  the  tribes  which  at  pres- 
ent are  " cut  off  from  intoxicants  will  come  under  the  scath- 
ing influence  of  a state  of  things  mainly  confined  to  the  west 
coast  hitherto,”  and  the  scenes  of  Dr.  Livingstone’s  " heroic 
explorations  ” are  threatened.  God  is  thought  to  be  helping 
these.  "In  one  instance  the  trafficker  was  drinking  from  a 
demijohn  in  the  chiefs  hut.  By  some  means  the  spirit  caught 
fire  and  he  died  in  a few  hours  horribly  burned.”  Mr.  John 
Moir,  the  representative  of  the  African  Lakes  Trading  Com- 
pany, tells  us  that,  in  the  flat  country  Ling  near  the  sea 
between  the  mouths  of  the  Zambesi  river  and  the  Quilimane 
estuary,  many  distilleries  exist.  "The  profits  on  the  sale  of 
spirits  is  700  per  cent.,  as  conducted  by  the  European  houses. 

I have  seen  bo}rs  and  girls  of  about  fourteen  or 

fifteen  years  of  age  getting  their  wages  in  this  poison.”  "At 
the  Opium  Company’s  place  nearly  the  whole  wages  are  paid 
in  spirits.” 

The  Portuguese  are  doing  that.  In  fact  these  Portuguese 
seem  to  be  the  " primal,  eldest  curse  ” to  Africa,  and  no  con- 
tinental nation  is  willing  to  stay  its  hand  in  the  least.  No 
conscience  seems  to  be  touched  at  all  save  that  of  England, 
and  hers  appears  to  be  as  yet  like  the  embryotic  evolution  of 


27G 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


moral  nature  in  the  crocodile.  I would  say  more,  if  I was 
not  obliged  to  admit  that  New  England  and  New  York  are 
little  better  than  Old  England,  and  I have  some  respect  for 
our  own  nest.  The  naked  truth  is  that  we  are  a set  of 
murderers  all  together,  and  the  best  of  us  only  endeavor  to 
console  our  victim  with  psalms  while  we  cut  his  throat  and 
pick  his  pocket.  The  work  of  these  blessed  missionaries  alone 
proves  to  the  African  that  the  Christian  has  any  God. 

The  following  data  is  kindly  furnished  to  me  by  the  officials 
of  the  custom  house  : 

The  exportation  from  the  port  of  Boston  to  British  Posses- 
sions in  Africa,  from  July  1,  1882,  to  July  1,  1887,  of  spirits 
made  from  molasses  alone  Avas  3,147,918  gallons,  while  in 
addition  to  this  there  have  been  large  exportations  of  spirits 
made  from  grain,  amounting  to  116,792  gallons  in  the  single 
year  of  1882,  also  Avines,  malt  liquors  in  bottles  and  casks, 
and  alcohol,  etc.,  etc. 

The  total  custom  house  ATiluation  of  all  domestic  exporta- 
tions from  the  United  States  to  the  British  Possessions  in 
Africa,  from  July  1,  1882,  to  July  1,  1886,  four  years,  is 
$6,648,123  ; of  intoxicating  liquors  during  the  same  period, 
$5,690,909,  leaving  the  value  of  all  other  exportation  $957,214. 
The  year  1886-7  is  not  included,  as  the  returns  were  not 
a\Tailable  at  the  custom  house  Avhen  I applied  for  them. 

These  returns  include  only  the  exportation,  first,  of  quantity 
from  the  single  port  of  Boston,  and,  second,  of  A*alue  from  the 
United  States,  for  the  pei'iods  aboAre  stated,  to  the  British 
Possessions  in  Africa — i.  e.,  Sierra  Leone,  Gold  Coast,  on 
the  AA'est  coast;  Cape  Colony  and  Natal  on  the  south  coast, 
etc.,  etc.  When  we  further  consider  that  this  does  not 
include  the  principal  inlets  of  alcohol  to  Africa,  and  that 
Great  Britain,  France,  Germany,  Portugal  and  other  Euro- 
pean countries  are  far  more  active  in  this  accursed  commerce 
than  ourselves,  and  that  the  manufacture  is  already  rooted  in 
Africa  itself,  and  that  the  trade  does  not  probably  reA'eal  to 
official  inspection  one  fourth  of  its  actual  proportions,  we  can 
begin  to  imagine  something  of  the  extent  of  these  fires  from 
hell  Avith  which  we  are  illuminating  and  burning  up  the  ''Dark 
Continent,”  AA’kose  historic  misfortunes  seem  to  culminate  in 
our  love. 


Mrs,  Mary  Clement  Leavitt , 

World's  Missionary , National  li~.  C.  T.  U. 


A DAT  OF  RETRIBUTION. 


277 


Rev.  James  Johnson  said  in  a speech  before  a meeting  of 
members  of  the  House  of  Commons,  April  1,  1887:  "The 
slave  trade  has  been  to  Africa  a great  evil,  but  the  evils  of  the 
rum  trade  are  far  greater.”  Mr.  W.  S.  Caine,  M.  P.,  says  : 

"The  native  races  of  Egypt  are  being  demoralized 

Who  buys  the  liquor  now?  Why,  the  natives,  whom  I am 
sorry  to  say  the  British  soldier  has  largely  taught  to  drink. 
Wherever  the  Englishman  comes  in  contact  with  the  natives 

he  drags  them  down  through  intoxicating  liquors 

I went  to  a temperance  meeting  in  Cairo 

all  natives,  three  or  four  hundred  present, 

every  speaker  native  of  Egypt  and  speeches  in  Arabic. 
Nearly  every  speech  was  in  denunciation  of  Englishmen, 
Levantines  and  Europeans,  and  Christians  in  particular  for 
bringing  this  accursed  drink  to  them.  They  were  urging 
Mohammedans,  whose  religion  forbids  them  to  drink,  to  sign 
the  pledge  as  we  do  here.”  In  fact  Mohammedanism  would 
appear  to  be  the  chief  hope  of  Africa,  and,  if  Christianity  does 
not  rid  itself  of  alcohol,  may  yet  be  of  the  world. 

Professor  the  Rev.  N.  J.  Hofmeyer,  of  the  Dutch  Reformed 

Church,  says  : " The  drink  traffic  in  South  Africa 

means  ruin  and  death  to  the  natives.  In  1883  it  was  officially 
reported  that  in  two  months  106  natives  had  been  killed  by 
brandy.  How  many  pine  away  and  die  under  this  curse  all 
over  South  Africa  of  which  no  human  record  is  kept  ? What 

a day  of  retribution  is  awaiting  the  white  man  ! 

except  he  repent  and  seek  the  good  of  the  race  he  is  now 
destroying  for  lucre’s  sake.”  Dr.  Clarke  says  that  "he  had 
seen  thousands  of  girls  lying  drunk  around  the  traders’ 
wagons.” 

The  Rev.  H.  W.  Little  read  a paper  before  the  British 
Colonial  Temperance  Congress  upon  the  liquor  traffic  on  the 
east  coast  of  Africa,  from  which  I take  the  following  extract, 
making  no  apology  for  its  length,  because  of  the  completeness 
with  which  it  portrays  the  methods  by  which  stronger  nations 
in  these  modern  times  are  despoiling  and  destroying  weaker 
ones  under  the  pretense  of  civilizing  and  improving  their  con- 
dition. It  is  a false  pretense  and  it  would  be  less  cowardly 
and  more  honorable  to  avow  the  real  purpose  and  use  some 
other  method  than  poisoning.  Pirates  carry  the  black  flag — 


278 


the  temperance  movement. 


which  makes  their  business  comparatively  respectable.  Mr. 
Little  says,  page  232  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Congress 
which  was  held  July,  188(5  : "'My  work  as  a missionary  of  the 
Church  of  England  for  several  years  was  carried  on  on  the 
east  coast  of  the  beautiful  but  afflicted  island  of  Madagascar. 
The  history  of  that  land  is  without  parallel  for  pathos  and 
consuming  interest  in  the  history  of  the  world.  A century 
ago  it  was  unknown.  Fifty  years  ago  it  passed  through  a 
national  crisis  from  which  it  emerged,  guided  by  the  strong 
hand  of  England,  into  a new  life.  You  are  all  aware  of  the 
rapid  progress  of  the  Malagasy  in  their  religious  and  social 
life.  A nation  of  idolaters  in  1800,  to-day  they  are  a nation 
of  Christians.  And  for  this  change  they  have  solely  to  thank 
English  non-conformists.  The  London  Missionary  Society 
sent  them  missionaries,  artisans,  printers,  and  useful  men  of 
all  trades  and  professions.  The  results  were  abundant  to 
overflowing.  So  mightily  grew  the  Word  of  God  and  pre- 
vailed.” A splendid  commerce  began  to  move  the  land.  Its 
dormant  resources  were  brought  forth  and  found  a ready 
market  in  foreign  ports.  The  vessels  of  Europe  crowded  its 
magnificent  harbors  and  the  people  rejoiced  in  the  new  era 
which  had  dawned  upon  them.  Their  reverence  and  adora- 
tion of  anything  English  was  everywhere  manifest.  They  gave 
us  the  highest  honor  they  could  bestow.  They  called  us 
brethren  and  fathers  and  sons. 

But  they  soon  began  to  distrust  us,  and  I fear  in  the  end  to 
dislike  us.  We  had  not  been  true  to  them.  We  professed 
to  love  them  for  their  own  sake,  and  then,  alas  ! we  discover 
ourselves  to  them  only  as  seeking  to  enrich  ourselves  at  their 
expense.  Mauritius,  the  chief  colony  of  the  southern  Indian 
Ocean  and  the  East  African  seaboard,  had  gradually  developed 
immense  capabilities  as  a sugar-producing  island.  The  white 
capital  of  the  island  soon  drifted  into  this  industry  and  of 
course  an  outlet  had  to  be  found  for  the  produce  of  these  ever- 
increasing  sugar  estates.  A ready  market  was  found  for  the 
sugar,  but  what  was  to  be  done  with  the  rum  which  was 
made  from  the  refuse  of  the  sugar  mills  ? It  was  not  good 
enough  for  European  markets.  It  was  too  good  to  waste. 
Madagascar  was  opening  its  gates  with  its  millions  of  popula- 
tion in  all  good  faith  to  the  merchandise  of  its  more  civilized 


INTRODUCTION  OF  SPIRITS  INTO  MADAGASCAR. 


279 


neighbors.  The  idea  was  conceived  of  making  Madagascar 
receptacle  for  the  damaged  spirit  of  the  Christian  English 
colony  of  Mauritius.  The  stufl  was  taken  down  to  Tamotave 
to  be  bartered  for  Malagasy  native  produce.  I need  not  pro- 
long the  story.  The  native  villages  soon  became  scenes  of 
frightful  havoc  and.  misery.  The  crime  of  the  island  arose  in 
one  short  year  by  leaps  and  bounds  to  a height  too  fearful  to 
record.  Like  a pestilence,  the  rum  of  Mauritius  flowed  along 
the  public  way  and  up  the  country,  till  it  invaded  the  capital, 
Antananarivo,  200  miles  from  the  coast.  The  native  govern- 
ment -was  seized  with  consternation.  Was  this  a plot  of  the 
English  to  destroy  them?  The  king,  Radama  I.,  a prince 
of  great  sagacity  and  courage,  at  once  saw  that  something 
must  be  done  to  save  his  people.  The  custom  dues  of  the 
port  were  paid  then  as  now  in  kind.  Every  tenth  barrel 
of  the  cursed  spirit  imported  was  sent  to  the  government 
stores.  But  Radama  would  not  allow  it  to  be  placed  with 
the  cottons  of  Manchester  or  the  hardware  of  Birmingham. 
He  ordered  it  to  be  left  on  the  sands,  and  then  to  be  taken  to 
the  water’s  edge  and  poured  out,  ever}'  drop,  into  the  sea.  The 
merchants  of  Mauritius  were  amused ; but  they  speedily 
became  indignant,  as  they  saw  that  the  aggressive  action  of 
the  king  was  leading  the  natives  to  look  upon  the  rum  with 
fear  and  distaste.  A grave  representation  was  therefore 
made  to  Radama  by  the  officials  of  the  English  government 
on  the  subject.  He  was  publicly  depreciating  the  value  of  a 
British  article  of  trade.  He  was  violating  a clause  of  the 
treaty  between  himself  and  the  imperial  government.  Poor 
Radama  had  to  allow  the  cursed  stufl’  free  course  or  quarrel 
with  his  best  friends  and  strongest  ally. 

From  that  time  to  this  the  flood  has  flowed  uninterruptedly 
over  the  land.  And  the  Malagasy  are  suffering  to-day  and 
will  suffer  till  public  opinion  at  home  proves  too  strong  for  the 
thing  to  be  done  in  the  name  of  England  any  longer.  Radama’s 
son,  Radama  II.,  a youth  of  great  promise,  fell  under  the  in- 
fluence of  the  cursed  habit  of  intoxication  taught  him  by  men 
of  a Christian  nation,  and  he  perished  after  a brief  reign  of 
nine  months,  crowded  with  acts  of  folly  and  sin,  in  his  own 
palace,  assassinated  by  order  of  his  own  Privy  Council. 

A terrible  fact  is  that  the  natives  are  now  irrowin^  sugar 


‘280 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


cane  in  tlieir  own  country  in  order  to  make  this  rum,  and  the 
passion  for  intoxicants  is  spreading  with  fearful  rapidity 
amongst  the  young  men  of  the  higher  classes,  who  somehow 
think  it  fashionable  and  a mark  of  high  civilization  to  be  seen 
in  a condition  of  almost  helpless  intoxication  in  public  places. 
The  native  authorities  deplore  this  condition  of  things.  They 
wish  to  close  their  ports  to  the  thing  altogether,  but  Mauritius 
is  too  strong  for  them,  and  this  crying  injury  to  a perishing 
people  remains  unredressed  and  unheeded  by  the  most  humane 
and  Christian  nation  in  the  world.  The  same  story  may  be 
told  with  very  slight  variations  in  detail  of  all  the  native  tribes 
on  the  East  African  sea  board.  From  Natal,  from  the  Cape, 
and  from  all  the  older  colonies  of  the  south,  a flood  of  spirit  is 
poured  into  the  territories  of  the  native  chiefs.  "Whole  villages 
are  found  in  a state  of  intoxication,  kings,  chiefs,  people, 
women,  children,  all  in  a state  of  hideous  frenzy  born  of  the 
fire  water  of  the  white  man.” 

I can  go  no  further  with  this  description  of  hell.  Oh, 
Christianity,  what  crimes  are  done  in  thy  name  ! 

The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  in  a sermon  delivered  May 
2,  1887,  in  "Westminster  Abbey,  holds  out  a raj'  of  hope. 

It  is  a dread  commerce.  But  it  is  rather  anti-commerce.  The 
fear  of  it  and  the  dread  of  it  will  soon  be  upon  commerce  itself. 

What  shall  we  sa}7  of  a system  which,  in  the  name  of 

freedom,  threatens  with  extinction  all  trades  but  one?  What  of 
bales  of  goods  reshipped  because  in  the  drunken  population  there 
was  no  demand  but  for  drink — because  they  would  receive  nothing 
else  in  barter — would  take  no  other  wages  for  the  early  morning’s 
work  and  were  incapable  when  the  earl}7  morning  was  past?” 

Just  so,  and  thus  we  again  reach  the  conscience  through  the 
pocket,  and  but  for  this  there  would  be  scant  hope  indeed. 
As  Mr.  Joseph  Thompson  says,  in  the  Contemporart/  Iievieio 
of  December,  1886,  "for  any  African  who  is  influenced  for  good 
by  Christianity,  a thousand  are  driven  into  deeper  degrada- 
tion by  the  gin  trade,  and  Mohammedan  missionaries  are 
throwing  down  the  gauge  to  Christianity  and  declaring  war 
upon  our  chief  contribution  to  western  Africa — the  gin  trade.  ’ 

AUSTRALIAN  COLONIES  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 

As  everywhere  else  on  the  face  of  the  earth  that  superior 


ALCOHOL  A MEDIUM  OF  EXCHANGE. 


281 


civilization  are  in  aggressive  contact  with  inferior  conditions 
of  men,  alcohol  is  one  ot  the  most  active  and  deadly  agencies 
operating  against  the  native  inhabitants  in  the  vast  regions  of 
Oceanica,  as  well  as  among  the  civilized  pioneers  of  the  great 
nations  which  are  now  emerging  upon  the  horizon  of  history. 

But  I am  warned  by  the  diminishing  space  of  this  work  that 
I must  be  brief  in  the  further  consideration  of  the  ravages  of 
intemperance  in  foreign  lands.  Our  chief  concern  is  first 
to  put  out  the  fire  at  home. 

New  South  Wales  is  the  oldest  of  the  Australian  colonies  ; 
it  contains  310,938  square  miles,  and  is  three  times  the  size 
of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland — five  times  larger  than  New 
England.  Its  population  is  one  million  and  rapidly  increasing. 
N.  T.  Collins,  G.  W.  V.  T.,  of  the  Grand  Lodge  I.  O.  G.  T. 
of  New  South  Wales,  Tasmania  and  Fiji  says:  "Unfortu- 
nately drink  has  been  the  great  curse  of  the  people  in  this  as 
well  as  in  other  lands.  Alcohol  was  one  of  the  earliest  me- 
diums of  exchange,  and  many  valuable  properties  were  bar- 
tered awa}T  for  a gallon  or  two  of  rum.  One  of  the  first 
hospitals  in  the  colony  was  built  by  rum,  the  government 
giving  the  contractors  a monopoly  in  the  drink  traffic,  and  it 
was  long  known  as  the  ' Rum  Hospital.’  This  seems  to  have 
been  a sure  way  to  furnish  patients  so  long  as  there  were  peo- 
ple to  drink  the  rum.”  Mr.  Collins  adds  : "As  in  the  early 
days  of  the  colony  a considerable  proportion  of  the  popula- 
tion belonged  to  the  convict  and  lawless  classes,  it  may  be 
easily  imagined  that  the  drink  fiend  obtained  a firm  footing, 
and  that  the  most  horrible  crimes  were  perpetrated  under  its 
influence.”  But  he  speaks  hopefully  of  the  future.  The 
Good  Templars,  and  other  great  and  good  organizations,  are 
at  work  with  beneficial  results.  Restrictive  legislation  helps 
them  also,  and  now  the  people  pay  only  twenty-three  dollars 
per  head  annually  for  strong  drink. 

Mr.  John  Yale,  Secretary  of  the  Victorian  Alliance,  Mel- 
bourne, says  that  " speaking  generally  Victoria  is  neither  bet- 
ter nor  worse  than  most  of  her  neighbors  and  friends.”  She 
has  a million  of  people,  and  the  amount  annually  expended  in 
support  of  the  drink  traffic  is  $25,000,000 — or  twenty-five 
dollars  for  each  man,  woman  and  child.  Temperance  societies 
are  active,  and  the  law  helps  some. 


282 


TIIE  TEAIPEEAXCE  MOVEMENT. 


Mr.  John  TV.  Jago,  of  Dunedin,  Yew  Zealand,  says: 
' There  is  no  fairer  land  than  this,  none  richer  in  resource, 
with  more  genial  clime,  or  richer  soils,  or  finer  forests,  or 
more  varied  mineral  deposits  ; no  country  where  the  scenery 
is  more  gsrand,  more  beautiful  or  more  wonderful.  Yet,  fair, 
beautifully  grand  as  is  this  new  land  of  ours,  'the  trail  of  the 
serpent  is  over  it  all’ while  man  asserted  his  do- 

minion over  the  earth,  drink  accursed  drink,  and  the  devil  in 
solution,  asserted  his  dominion  over  man.” 

During  the  past  ten  years  the  population  of  the  colony  has 
not  averaged  over  500,000,  and  the  expenditure  for  rum  has 
been  £.20,000,000,  or  $100,000,000.  Drink  causes  drunken- 
ness, drunkenness  produces  poverty,  disease  and  crime,  and 
Mr.  Jago  estimates  the  cost  of  the  traffic,  direct  and  indirect, 
at  $22,500,000  annually,  an  amount  equal  to  the  entire  reve- 
nue of  the  colony.  The  Good  Templars  are  the  chief  hope  of 
all  these  vast  possessions,  and  the  condition  of  the  colonies 
already  described  applies  to  Queensland,  South  Australia, 
Tasmania  and  elsewhere  in  those  far-off,  but  important,  lands. 
The  native  races  seem  to  cut  no  figure  in  the  recent  accounts. 
The  same  will  be  true  of  Africa  in  fifty  years.  Like  causes 
produce  like  effects. 


THE  COXGO  VALLEY. 

In  closing  the  chapter  I offer  a few  observations,  lest  they 
be  omitted  later,  upon  the  case  of  Africa,  which  demands  the 
immediate  attention  of  the  American  people.  TTe  first  recog- 
nized the  Congo  Free  State.  Me  were  a part  of  the  Berlin 
Conference  which  chained  the  liquor  trade  to  her  lips  by  in- 
ternational agreement.  It  would  have  been  better  to  have 
revived  the  slave  trade,  if  therewith  we  had  enacted  interna- 
tional prohibition  of  the  liquor  traffic  for  the  Congo  valley. 
This  government  daily  commits,  by  its  acquiescence  in  the 
existing  treaty-guaranteed  wickedness,  a far  greater  wrong 
than  it  Avouldbe  to  re-en slave  our  own  colored  fellow-citizens. 

The  Executive  Department  of  the  government  should  at 
once  open  correspondence  with  every  foi’eign  power  concern- 
ed, with  a Anew  to  changing  the  status  established  by  the  Con- 
ference of  Berlin  and  by  subsequent  events.  The  Legislative 
Department  should  take  still  more  radical  action  by  prohibit- 


LET  CHRISTIAN  RIIIL.^STTHEOPY  ORGANIZE. 


283 


ing  exportation  of  spirits  of  any  kind  to  Africa  ; by  declaring 
the  trade  to  be  a crime,  like  piracy  on  the  high  seas,  and  to 
be  extirpated  by  force.  Build  a navy  for  this  purpose,  if 
necessary,  and  scour  the  seas.  Let  us  see  what  Christian 
nation  will  go  to  war  to  protect  this  plague  of  the  world. 
International  agreement  can  be  obtained  for  the  suppres- 
sion of  this  trade,  if  a real  effort  be  made  by  the  United 
States  to  secure  it.  If  no  such  agreement  can  be  had,  then 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  can  form  a conven- 
tion for  its  effectual  suppression.  If  Great  Britain  will  not 
join  us,  we  can  do  it  alone.  We  face  perpetually  inward,  and 
like  the  ostrich,  with  his  head  in  the  sand,  or  a bashful  boy, 
stand  with  our  back  to  the  world.  If  we  leave  the  Congo 
Uree  State — and  so  all  Africa — where  we  have  helped  to  place 
her  by  the  Berlin  Conference,  it  would  have  been  better  never 
to  have  recognized  her  flag  at  all.  Let  the  Christian  Philan- 
throp}r  of  the  country  organize,  and  move  on  Washington. 
The  World’s  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union  has 
already  entered  upon  the  work.  It  is  time  it  were  done. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


THE  REMEDIES TOTAL  ABSTINENCE 


Alcohol  the  Tyrant  of  all  Ages  and  Races — Are  the  Chains  of  the 
Liquor  Habit  to  be  Perpetual?  Shall  there  be  a “New  Emancipa- 
tion”?— The  Forces  of  the  Temperance  Reform  until  lately  a God- 
inspired  Mob — A Great  War  before  us  — The  Emancipation  of  Fif- 
teen Hundred  Millions  — Agencies  to  be  Employed  by  the  Organized 
Army  of  Reform  Considered:  Individual,  Associated  and  Political  — 
Personal  Total  Abstinence  a Recent  Evolution  of  Christian  Civili- 
zation— The  Dictum  of  Science  and  Duty. 

E have  now  surveyed  this  monster  evil  which  afflicted 


f f nations,  long  since  personified  as  the  Tyrant  Alcohol. 
The  tyrant  indeed  he  is  of  all  ages,  and  of  every  race  and 
clime.  America,  Europe,  the  world,  are  now  in  his  chains. 
There  has  never  been  a system  of  slavery  like  this  which 
King  Alcohol  has  imposed  upon  mankind  — so  full  of  hor- 
rors, so  abject  and  hopeless,  in  this  life,  and  so  portentous 
only  of  Availing  and  despair  in  the  next. 

The  slavery  which  for  hundreds  of  years  was  imposed  by 
civilized  ( ?)  nations  upon  the  children  of  ravished  Africa 
was  so  dreadful  in  its  origin,  and  so  wicked  in  its  robbery  of 
the  rights  of  man,  that  humanityand  conscience  at  last  have 
overthrown  it,  even  in  those  regions  Avhere  it  existed  in  its 
mildest  and  most  profitable  form.  It  Avas,  at  the  worst, 
subjection  of  the  bod}'  only. 

" Still,  in  thought  as  free  as  eArer,”  the  black  victim  asserted 
his  own  manhood,  denied  the  right  of  those  Avho  bought  and 
sold  him,  and,  appealing  to  the  innate  sentiments  of  love 
and  of  justice  Avhich  unite  the  Avhole  family  of  man,  to  the 
fatherhood  of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of  the  race,  demanded 
liberty  and  equality  before  the  laAv.  Such  an  appeal  must 
be  heard.  It  was  heard  — in  every  form  of  protest  and  in- 
dignant expression  in  time  of  peace,  and  finally  on  a thou- 
sand bloody  battlefields  and  on  the  slippery  decks  of  naA'al 


THE  “NEW  EMANCIPATION.” 


285 


•strife,  until  the  high  judgment  of  Earth  and  Heaven  has 
reversed  the  foul  decree  which  enchained  our  fellow-man,  and 
now  the  body,  like  the  soul,  is  free. 

But  the  fierce  tyrant  whose  dominion  we  are  now  contem- 
plating, worse  than  the  kidnapper  of  Africa,  has  lassooed 
our  immortal  natures  and  enslaved  the  soul.  Under  the 
slavery  which  our  century  has  abolished,  it  was  only  neces- 
sary to  release  the  body  and  the  whole  man  went  free. 
But  here  is  a thraldom  which,  while  it  is  destructive  of  the 
body,  yet  interpenetrates  the  whole  nature,  and,  by  a horri- 
ble process  of  mental  and  moral,  as  well  as  physical,  disso- 
lution and  degradation,  eliminates  every  quality  of  nobility 
in  man,  and  even  of  the  respectable  brute.  There  seems 
hardly  anything  whatever  of  being,  of  personal  entity  left ; 
nothing  but  the  essence,  the  purest  quality  of  debased,  be- 
sotted, and  grovelling  servility. 

The  man  is  at  last  absorbed  in  his  own  chains ; there 
is  no  man  — all  shames  and  crimes,  and  nothing  more. 
Both  body  and  soul  are  destroyed  in  hell ; yet  the  hell 
is  upon  earth,  and  millions  upon  millions  of  us  are  now 
in  it,  where  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  millions  of  our  ances- 
tors and  of  our  kith  and  kin  have  already  died  of  the  worm 
which  so  far  dieth  not,  " the  worm  of  the  still.”  And  is 
there  no  escape?  are  these  chains  perpetual ? 

Shall  there  be  no  "New  Emancipation ” ? With  me  the 
millennium  is  a fact  as  fixed  in  the  future  as  the  rising 
of  the  morrow’s  sun.  To  that  more  than  hope,  that  faith 
which  is  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for,  I cling  as  the 
fundamental  premise  in  the  logic  of  life.  Without  this,  there 
is,  to  my  mind,  no  syllogism,  no  conclusion  at  all.  If  we  may 
not  believe  — yes,  know,  as  we  know  that  the  everlasting 
courses  of  universal  nature  are  sure  — that  there  is  a higher 
and  better  destiny  for  the  race  than  this  mortal  existence,  a 
time  when  " all  crimes  shall  cease,  and  ancient  fraud  shall  fail,” 
.and  once  more  " returning  Justice  lift  aloft  her  scale,”  what 
is  there  to  work  for  here  ? If  the  earthly  millennium  be 
impossible,  a will-o’-the-wisp,  or  some  miasmatic  exhalation 
of  the  mind ; if  there  be  no  certainty  of  a higher  and 
better  state  in  this  world  which  Ave  have  seen,  Avhat  sensible 
ground  is  there  to  predicate  the  realization  of  our  hopes  in 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


286 

it,  world  which  we  have  not  seen?  It  is  hardly  worth  while 
to  prolong  society  unless  there  is  hope  of  its  elevation  and 
happiness  here.  The  sooner  we  tire  all  the  other  side  of 
Jordan,  and  the  tragedy  of  lost  Greenland  is  repeated  on 
the  stage  of  the  whole  world,  the  better. 

It  is  this  faith  in  the  redemption  and  elevation  of  our  race 
to  the  enjoyment  of  untold  ages  of  happiness,  here  in  this 
world,  which  encourages  me  to  believe  in  the  overthrow  of 
alcohol  and  in  the  "New  Emancipation.”  And  there  is 
reason  for  the  faith  that  is  within  us. 

A\re  do  know  that  certain  causes  will  produce  certain 
effects ; that,  if  certain  causes  result  in  slavery,  certain 
other  causes  lead  to  freedom.  We  do  know  that  freedom 
need  never  be  lost,  and  that  when  lost  it  can  be  regained  — 
not  always,  for  manhood  at  last  goes  out  and  there  is  noth- 
ing left  to  be  made  free.  But  there  are  conditions  which  give 
freedom,  hope  and  joy,  and  we  possess  them  all  ■when  these 
conditions  are  complied  with.  There  is  a wa}r  of  escape. 
It  is  long  and  difficult.  By  a thousand  converging  and 
ascending  avenues,  and  through  more  than  forty  years  of 
wandering  in  wastes  and  wildernesses,  humanity  must  reach 
the  promised  land.  But  there  is  such  a land,  and  it  becomes 
us  to  be  strong  and  to  go  up  and  possess  it. 

We  are  entering  upon  a great  war.  The  battle  is  over 
the  face  of  the  whole  earth.  It  is  personal,  social,  national, 
international.  It  involves  both  hemispheres  and  all  races  — 
body  and  soul,  time  and  eternity.  It  has  already  lasted 
more  than  one  hundred  years.  We  must  not  falter  because 
we  are  to  die  on  the  battlefield : only  let  us  fight  a good 
fight.  Another  century  may  place  alchoholism  where  slavery 
now  is.  That  will,  indeed,  be  a new  emancipation.  How 
shall  we  win  this  fight? 

Much  depends  upon  the  organization  of  the  army  and  the 
plan  of  battle.  Until  lately,  the  forces  of  the  Temperance 
Reform  have  been  a God-inspired  mob.  Many  a Bastile  has 
been  taken,  but  hardly  one  has  been  destroyed,  and  we 
almost  invariably  have  lost  them  again  to  the  inferior  but 
regular  troops  of  the  enemy.  It  is  all-important  that  we 
comprehend  what  we  are  to  do.  We  are  to  capture  the 
world,  to  accomplish  New  and  Universal  Emancipation,  for 


Mary  T.  L at  hr  aft. 

President  IV.  C.  T.  U.,  of  Michigan. 


INDIVIDUAL  TOTAL  ABSTINENCE. 


287 


fifteen  hundred  millions  who  now  are,  and  for  billions  who 
are  yet  to  be. 

How  shall  this  be  done? 

I do  not  feel  competent  to  answer  this  question  as  it  should 
be  answered  ; but  the  hope  to  throw  a few  rays  of  light  (and 
I would  also  of  heat)  upon  it,  is  the  only  purpose  with  which 
this  book  is  written. 

Human  existence  proceeds  in  two  forms  — the  individual 
life  and  the  life  of  society.  Intemperance  affects  both,  and 
hence  all  the  agencies  and  influences  which  they  can  summon 
should  be  exerted  for  its  extirpation. 

These  agencies  and  influences  may  be  classified  as  (1) 
individual  action,  (2)  voluntary  associated  action,  and  (3) 
action  by  the  State.  The  first  two  constitute  those  influences 
and  agencies  which  are  generally  known  as  moral  suasion. 
The  State  enacts  and  enforces  law.  It  is  obvious  that,  since 
the  evils  of  alcohol  result  from  the  voluntary  introduction, 
by  the  individual,  of  the  poison  into  his  system,  the  funda- 
mental condition  of  prevention  and  reform  is  total  abstinence 
by  every  one  from  the  accursed  thing. 

This  is  the  first  commandment,  and  the  second  is  like 
unto  it.  Thou  shalt  assist  thy  neighbor  to  abstain  like 
thyself. 

The  medicinal  use,  if  there  be  any,  is  not  included  in  the 
use  as  a beverage,  although  when  administered  as  a medicine 
it  may  be  in  the  form  of  a drink.  The  complete  temper- 
ance reformation,  for  individuals  and  for  society,  implies  total 
abstinence  of  the  race  from  intoxicating  beverages.  That, 
and  nothing  less,  should  be  the  high  ideal  of  our  endeavor, 
although  we  may  climb  to  the  stars  by  many  a weary,  tortu- 
ous, but  ever  ascending  step.  It  is  clear  that,  as  society  is 
but  the  aggregate  of  individuals,  personal  abstinence  and 
reform  is  the  only  possible  way  to  general  reform.  True 
temperance  reform,  then,  must  begin  with  the  individual, 
and  it  must  be  brought  about  by  the  exertion  of  his  own 
will,  or  by  the  will  of  others  influencing  his  conduct,  either 
by  advice  or  compulsion.  The  Temple  of  Reform  is  budded 
of  living  individual  stones,  which  either  take  their  proper 
places  voluntarily,  or,  being  placed  by  the  aid  of  others,  re- 
main there  by  virtue  of  their  own  disposition  or  environment. 


288 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


B licrever  there  is  ■will-power  there  is  responsibility ; and 
if  there  be  such  a thing  as  sin,  that  man  commits  sin  who 
knowing^  and  voluntarily  partakes  of  poison  as  a mere 
beverage,  a drink. 

If  there  be  any  act  fraught  with  more  danger  to  himself 
and  to  all  those  who  are  about  him,  whether  in  relations  near 
or  remote,  let  it  be  named.  "What  crime  does  man  commit 
attended  by  such  universally  bad,  ■wide-spreading,  and  far- 
reaching  consequences  as  that  of  voluntary  intoxication? 
Intoxication  stimulates  every  bad  impulse  and  passion  of 
body  and  soul. 

It  embraces  every  crime  in  its  probabilities  — certainly  in 
its  possibilities  — whenever  it  is  committed;  and  we  shall 
have  gone  far  on  the  way  to  the  removal  of  the  great  evil 
when  we  feay  of  the  drunken  man  that  he  has  committed  the 
crime  of  intoxication.  If,  -while  thus  a criminal,  he  commits 
also  a murder,  I had  almost  said  that  he  should  still  be 
arraigned  at  the  bar  of  justice,  charged  with  intoxication,  and 
the  killing  should  be  shown  in  evidence  not  as  the  principal 
offense,  but  as  an  aggravation  of  the  original  crime  com- 
rnitted  and  continued  by  the  voluntary  administration  of 
strong  drink,  and  punished  to  the  extreme  penalty  of  law. 
In  law  a man  contemplates  the  probable  consequences  of  his 
own  act,  and  is,  accordingly,  held  responsible  whether  he 
really  thinks  of  them  or  not.  When  habitual  intoxication  has 
so  far  done  its  work  that  the  will  is  gone  and  permanent 
imbecility  or  active  insanity  has  usurped  the  moral  nature, 
responsibility  may  cease.  But  if  we  punished  the  single  act 
of  intoxication  as  a crime,  he  would  be  a hardened  wretch 
indeed  who  could  contrive  so  frequently  to  offend  as  to  de- 
velop the  permanent  loss  of  his  reasoning  powers. 

If,  then,  the  voluntary  perpetration  of  acts  which  are 
hurtful  to  ourselves  and  to  others  is  sin,  the  voluntary  use 
• of  intoxicating  liquors  or  poison  is  sin;  and  when  it  goes 
so  far  as  to  injure  society,  it  should  be  prohibited  bv  law. 
It  will  hardly  be  claimed  that  drunkenness  to  any  extent 
does  not  injure  society,  since  all  men  are  embraced  in  its 
membership. 

The  law  can  not  deal  with  trifles,  and  its  practical  applica- 
tion can  not  reach  those  acts  of  secluded  vice  which  do  not 


TOTAL  ABSTINENCE  FUNDAMENTAL. 


289 


openly  touch  the  public  welfare  and  the  good  order  of 
society  ; but  the  act  is  still  attended  with  personal  responsi- 
bility in  the  forum  of  conscience,  and  is  still  a sin.  As  such, 
it  must  be  distinctly  held  up  to  the  eye  of  the  mind,  and 
dealt  with  in  the  account  between  the  creature  and  his  God. 

In  this  secret  fortress  ot  the  soul  the  primary  battle  must 
be  fought ; that  battle  is  within  the  gate  ; it  is  the  struggle  of 
the  garrison  to  lie  loyal  and  true  to  its  primary  instinct  of 
duty  to  itself,  humanity,  and  God.  The  creation  of  this  sense 
of  the  commission  of  wickedness  in  the  act  of  self-poisoning  or 
intoxication  is  the  radical  work.  "Without  it,  all  other  means 
— whether  of  the  press  or  church  or  State,  or  even  of  friend- 
ship and  love  — will  fail.  Appetite  is  stronger  than  them  all. 
Conscience  alone  can  conquer  alcohol  fighting  for  supremacy 
within  the  citadel  of  the  human  soul. 

The  first  great  necessity  in  the  temperance  reform  is, 
then,  to  convince  men  that  intoxication  is  wrong.  This  is 
the  work  of  religion.  It  is  the  special  mission  of  the  church 
and  of  all  those  auxiliary  agencies  which  are  connected  with 
organized  piety  or  piety  in  action. 

The  conviction  must  penetrate  further  than  to  the  act  of 
personal  intoxication.  The  man  must  realize  that  cursed  is 
he  that  putteth  the  cup  to  his  neighbor’s  lips.  It  must  go 
deeper  still,  and  stir  that  elemental  force,  — the  profoundest 
and  mightiest  in  the  universe,  — the  sense  of  duty.  Then 
we  will  have  men  aroused  to  action  in  all  their  relations  — 
to  themselves,  to  others,  both  personal  and  as  members  of 
society  and  of  the  State  — contending  with  all  their  immortal 
powers  for  the  extinction  of  a sin  and  a crime,  and  for  the 
elevation  and  happiness  of  mankind. 

It  is  not  for  me  further  to  dwell  upon  these  primary 
truths.  The  field  is  already  occupied  by  the  Christian 
church  and  by  all  who  are  laboring  for  educational  and 
moral  reform. 

Total  abstinence  from  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks  as 
beverages  by  the  individual  — not  as  a matter  of  choice 
or  expedienc}',  but  of  moral  obligation  — is,  then,  as  I be- 
lieve, the  fundamental  proposition  of  the  temperance  reform. 
I think  this  logically  and  inevitably  results  from  the 
fact,  which  is  demonstrated  by  the  overwhelming  evidence 
19 


290 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


already  produced,  that  any  alcohol  whatever  is  poisonous 
except  when  used  medicinally.  If  there  be  a case  in  which 
it  is  demonstrated  to  be  useful,  that  demonstration  proves  the 
use  to  be  medicinal.  It  is  a contradiction  of  terms  to  say 
that  poison  is  beneficial  to  a person  in  health. 

If  it  must  be  granted  that  it  is  a sin  for  one  to  inflict 
needless  evil  upon  himself,  it  must  be  still  more  a sin  for 
him  to  inflict  evil  upon  others.  It  must  also  be  granted  that 
no  one  can  injure  himself  without  thereby  injuring  society,  of 
which  he  is  a part  — and  to  whose  other  members  he  will  be 
rendered  either  positively  hurtful  or  less  useful  than  his  duty 
requires  him  to  be,  by  reason  of  the  self-inflicted  injury. 

If  total  abstinence  be  a personal  duty,  it  must  follow  that 
every  member  of  society  should  exert  himself  to  make  it  the 
rule  for  the  community.  If  he  owes  that  duty  to  his  neigh- 
bor, it  is  still  more  a wron<r  and  a crime  for  him  to  facilitate 
the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  by  their  manufacture  or  sale, 
or  by  aiding  or  abetting  the  traffic  therein. 

It  becomes  an  affirmative  wrong  on  his  part  to  promote 
by  act  or  by  neglect,  in  his  private,  social  or  civil  capacity, 
this  most  destructive  agency  with  which  the  human  race  is 
afflicted.  All  these  conclusions  follow  from  the  concession 
of  the  proposition  that  total  abstinence  from  the  use  of  in- 
toxicating drinks  is  a personal  duty. 

If  it  be  a personal  duty  to  abstain,  it  follows  that  we  must 
assist  others  to  abstain  also. 

If  personal  abstinence  be  a duty,  the  inherent  nature  of 
society  compels  the  concession  of  still  another  proposition. 
It  is  the  duty  of  society  to  impose  upon  itself  that  rule  which 
is  binding  upon  each  of  its  members.  "Whatever  is  the 
universal  duty  of  societ}',  society  must  require  to  be  per- 
formed. Society  acts  by  public  law  and  by  custom,  which 
is  the  most  powerful  of  all  manifestations  of  the  general  will. 

The  duty  of  personal  abstinence,  then,  requires  the  break- 
ing-up of  the  drinking  customs  of  society,  by  society,  the  es- 
tablishment of  their  contrary,  and  the  enactment  of  remedial 
and  prohibitory  laws  for  the  overthrow  of  the  traffic. 

In  view  of  the  sweeping  results  which  flow  from  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  proposition  that  personal  abstinence  is  a duty, 
the  fundamental  importance  of  the  doctrine  that  alcohol  is  a 


MODERATION  SOCIETIES. 


291 


poison,  or  hurtful  when  not  used  medicinally  upon  which 
that  proposition  depends  is  at  once  apparent. 

Thus  do  the  researches  and  discoveries  of  science  become 
the  foundation  of  morality,  the  enlightenment  and  sanction 
of  religious  and  civil  duty,  and  thus  do  they  promote  the 
general  welfare  of  mankind. 

The  doctrine  or  duty  of  total  personal  abstinence  is  one 
of  the  latest  evolutions  of  Christian  civilization.  It  could 
not  be  until  the  poisonous  nature  of  alcohol  to  sound  health 
was  established.  This  view  was  scarcely  entertained  until 
within  the  last  sixty  years,  and  even  now,  although  clearly 
proven,  is  by  no  means  universally  admitted.  Its  necessity, 
in  order  that  the  evil  of  intemperance  may  be  removed,  is 
partly  the  demonstration  of  science  and  partly  of  experience 
in  the  failure  of  the  prodigious  efforts  of  society  to  half-way 
rescue  itself  by  legislation,  abstinence  from  ardent  and 
indulgence  in  fermented  drinks,  Moderation  Societies  and 
like  emulsions.  I do  not  now  refer  to  the  totally  abstinent 
teachings  of  ancient  religions  and  Eastern  lawgivers,  which 
might  be  adopted  as  the  basis  of  modern  reform  ; but  to  our 
own  religion,  and  to  the  history  of  our  own  civilization.  In 
the  sixteenth  century  the  practice- of  using  intoxicating  bev- 
erages, distilled  and  fermented,  seems  to  have  been  as  fully 
established  and  almost  as  nearly  universal  among  European 
nations  as  that  of  breathing ; and  the  serious  suggestion  of 
its  sinfulness  would  generally  have  been  considered  as  absurd 
as  that  of  the  drinking  of  water.  Even  the  minister  of  relig- 
ion  appears  to  have  been  as  oblivious  to  the  idea  as  the 
common  recruiting  sergeant,  and  each  proceeded  to  the  dis- 
charge of  his  duty  in  filling  the  ranks  of  their  respective 
armies,  stimulated  by  the  same  exhilarating  agent.  Even 
after  society  was  staggering  under  the  increasing  burdens  of 
intemperance  in  recent  modern  times,  the  idea  of  personal 
culpability  in  the  use  of  liquors  had  not  dawned  upon  men. 
It  seems  to  have  been  conceded  by  all  that  moderation  in  the 
use  was  the  utmost  limit  of  rational  abstinence,  and  neither 
by  legislation  nor  voluntary  association  nor  personal  restraint 
was  more  to  be  thought  of. 

Moderation  Societies  appeared  in  the  early  part  of  the 
sixteenth  century.  The  first,  or  one  of  the  first,  was  estab- 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


292 


lished  in  Germany,  in  the  year  1517.  See  "Alcohol  in  His- 
t°ry,  ’ p.  276.  It  was  called  the  "Order  of  Temperance,” 
and  was  designed  to  put  an  end  to  the  custom  of  pledging 
health,  and  to  reform  the  "higher  classes.”  These  " classes” 
were  fast  being  ruined  by  intemperance.  In  1600,  Maurice, 
the  Landgrave  of  Hesse,  established  a societ}r  the  funda- 
mental rule  of  which  was  that  its  members  " never  should 
become  intoxicated.” 

No  member  "should  be  allowed  more  than  seven  goblets 
■of  wine  at  a meal,  and  that  not  more  than  twice  (14  goblets) 
a day.”  Count  Palatine  Frederick  V.  established  another, 
and  the  members  of  both  pledged  themselves  to  observe  the 
rules  two  years.  These  rules  permitted  the  use  of  5110, 
goblets  of  wine  by  each  member  yearly ; that  was  modera- 
tion— reformation.  Dr.  Eddy  says  that  he  finds  no  further 
trace  of  temperance  societies  for  nearly  two  hundred  years. 

The  Lansingburg  (X.  Y.)  Federal  Herald  of  July  13, 
1789,  has  the  following:  " Upwards  of  two  hundred  of  the 
most  respectable  farmers  of  the  count}'  of  Litchfield,  Ct., 
have  formed  an  association  to  discourage  the  use  of  spirit- 
uous liquors,  and  have  determined  not  to  use  any  kind  of 
distilled  liquors  during  their  farming  work  the  ensuing  season.” 

In  1785,  Dr.  Push  published  his  " Enquiry  into  the  Effects 
of  Ardent  Spirits  upon  the  Human  Body  and  Mind,”  and  the 
modern  temperance  reform  was  begun  ; but  then,  and  for 
many  years  after,  the  attack  was  made  upon  the  excessive 
use  or  the  abuse  of  ardent  spirits  mainly : while  Bush  and 
Belknap  and  others  even  favored  the  use  of  fermented 
drinks.  This  seems  more  incredible  when  they  had  the  les- 
sons of  history  before  them,  which,  until  within  a few  cen- 
turies, recorded  onlv  the  ravages  of  fermented  intoxicants. 
But  the  explanation  seems  to  me  to  be  the  fact  that  neither 
science  nor  experience  had  as  yet  demonstrated  the  vital 
truth  — at  least,  it  had  not  penetrated  even  the  professional 
mind  — that  alcohol  is  purely  a poison.  When  that  truth  is 
comprehended,  the  doctrine  of  total  abstinence  is  the  inevit- 
able and  spontaneous  conviction  of  every  sane  mind.  As 
late  as  1833,  the  Massachusetts  Temperance  Society  merely 
pledged  its  members  not  to  use  distilled  spirit  as  a drink  nor 
to  provide  it  for  others. 


Mrs.  William  Sibley , 

President  IP.  C.  T.  U. . of  Georgia. 


ORIGIN  OF  TOTAL  ABSTINENCE. 


293 


Dr.  Marsh  says  that,  " in  the  early  stages  of  the  tem- 
perance reform,  some  friends  of  the  cause  in  Boston  thought 
best  to  establish  a brewery  to  furnish  men,  who  would 
abstain  from  ardent  spirits,  with  beer.”  It  failed,  sinking- 
some  $20,000  capital,  because  its  managers  were  honest  and 
furnished  a good  article,  and  hence  could  not  compete  with 
the  cheap  adulterations  which  drew  away  the  patronage  of 
these  model  abstainers. 

Dr.  Eddy  says  of  alcohol  in  history,  that  the  first  instance 
in  modern  times,  of  which  we  have  reliable  information, 
where  the  principle  of  total  abstinence  has  been  maintained 
through  the  agency  of  pledges  and  organizations,  is  the  case 
of  Micajah  Pendleton,  of  Virginia,  who,  witnessing  the 
lamentable  effects  of  drinking  upon  his  neighbors,  and  desir- 
ing to  fortify  himself  in  all  possible  ways  against  becoming 
a victim  to  the  evil,  drew  up  and  signed  a total  abstinence 
pledge  in  the  early  part  of  1800.  He  induced  many  others 
to  sign  it,  in  different  parts  of  the  State,  but  his  work  was 
limited.  As  before  stated,  the  opposition  to  the  traffic 
was  almost  wholly  directed  against  the  abuse  of  ardent 
spirits  only,  and  by  the  Moderation  Societies,  until  1833, 
when  these  " began  to  give  way  to  Total  Abstinence  Organ- 
izations, which,  in  a few  years,  obtained  entire  control  of  the 
temperance  work.” 

Many  reasons  contributed  to  this  great  change  in  the 
public  mind.  It  had  been  observed  that  reformed  men 
seldom  returned  to  their  old  habits  from  resort  to  ardent 
spirits,  but  almost  always  fell  by  the  use  of  fermented 
drinks,  which  aroused  the  serpent  appetite  within  as  surely 
as  the  distilled ; and  gradually,  all  through  society,  the 
evil  of  intoxication  was  found  to  be  again  spreading  by  the 
substitution  of  the  milder  forms  of  intoxicants.  Thus, 
the  reform  itself  was  being  swallowed  up  in  the  coming 
oceans  of  fermentation. 

Prof.  Hitchcock,  of  Amherst  College,  who  had  been 
opposed  to  total  abstinence,  changed  his  position  in  the 
light  of  experience,  and  declared,  r'  without  any  fear  of 
contradiction,  that  the  greatest  obstacle  to  the  reformation 
of  drunkenness  is  the  habitual  use  of  wine,  beer,  cider,  and 
cordials  b\r  the  respectable  members  of  the  community ; as 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


294 


in  very  many,  I believe  in  most  cases,  intemperate  habits 
are  formed  and  the  love  of  alcoholic  drinks  induced  by  the 
habitual  use  of  these  lighter  beverages.”  Dr.  Marsh  said 
that  alcohol  was  diffusing:  itself  through  all  the  veins  of 
society  in  fermented  drinks. 

The  general  observation  and  study  of  the  subject  of 
alcohol  in  its  relations  to  man,  by  all  classes  and  especially 
by  chemists  and  by  the  ablest  members  of  the  medical 
profession,  with  the  aroused  activities  of  conscience,  quick- 
ened by  increasing  intelligence  in  and  out  of  the  church, 
the  discussions  of  the  pulpit,  of  the  platform  and  the  press, 
■which  have  agitated  our  own  and  other  countries,  have 
resulted  in  the  complete  establishment,  among  the  great 
mass  of  those  who  really  are  determined  upon  any  sub- 
stantial and  permanent  reform,  and  the  rescue  of  the  race 
from  the  curse  of  alcoholic  poisoning,  of  the  great  doctrine, 
or  principle,  that  total  abstinence  from  all  intoxicating 
beverages  is  a moral  obligation  binding  upon  the  conscience 
of  every  member  of  society,  and  that  the  unnecessary  use  — 
and  all  use  but  the  medicinal  is  unnecessary  — by  the  indi- 
vidual is  vice,  if  not  crime.  It  is  morally  wrong  for  the 
individual  to  inflict  injury  upon  himself  as  well  as  upon 
others ; and  the  infliction  of  injury  upon  himself  is  always 
an  injury  to  society.  This  great  truth  is  the  only  sure  basis 
of  hope  in  the  war  of  the  ages  against  alcohol,  now  flagrant 
throughout  the  world.  From  it  flow  logically  all  remedial 
measures,  whether  of  voluntary  effort,  of  the  church  or  of 
the  state. 

Build  the  church  of  Temperance  upon  this  rock,  and  the 
gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it. 


CHAPTER  XY. 


EDUCATIONAL  FOliCES. 

The  Policy  of  Prevention  — Education  of  the  Child  the  Secret  of  Suc- 
cess— Rescue  the  Drunkard;  but  Educate  the  Child  — Home  the 
Primary  Field  of  Action  — The  Church  Work  of  Education  — The 
Public  Schools  and  Scientific  Instruction  — “ Temperance  Edu- 
cation Law”  — The  Bill  for  National  Aid  to  Education  — Its  Princi- 
ples Stated — Its  Bearing  on  the  Temperance  Work  — Testimony  of 
Public  Men  to  its  Merits  and  Importance. 

IX  the  last  chapter  the  ground  is  taken  that  the  temperance 
reform  must  be  incomplete  until  total  abstinence  from  the 
use  of  intoxicating  liquors  as  a beverage  is  the  rule  of  the 
individual  and  of  society;  that  any  use  of  a poison,  save  as 
a medicine,  is  necessarily  hurtful,  and  therefore,  when  used 
with  knowledge  of  its  character,  is  morally  as  well  as  physi- 
cally  wrong  ; that  nothing  can  be  morally  right  the  indulgence 
in  which  is  known  to  be  injurious  either  to  the  individual 
or  to  society,  which  is  only  the  aggregation  of  individuals. 
The  fact  that  the  injury  is  in  many  cases  slight,  while  it  may 
raise  the  question  of  degree,  does  not  affect  the  quality  of 
the  action.  Questions  of  right  and  wrong  cannot  be  deter- 
mined by  geometry,  nor  with  the  most  improved  style  of 
Fairbanks’  scales.  They  belong  to  the  court  of  conscience, 
and  that  court,  and  no  other,  has  ultimate  jurisdiction  of  the 
temperance  reform.  Questions  of  expediency  may  arise  as 
to  the  form  and  degree  of  interference  by  law,  and  by  other 
methods,  with  the  traffic  ; but  they  must  all  be  decided  by 
the  test  of  conscience,  with  a view  to  the  adoption  of  the 
means  and  the  policy  which  shall  soonest  remove  the  evil  and 
the  sin  from  among  men.  In  this  chapter  I wish  to  call 
attention  to  some  of  the  means  to  be  employed,  and  their 
application,  to  secure  the  extinction  of  the  traffic  in  strong 
drink. 

Since  the  community  is  made  up  of  those  who  do,  and  of 
those  who  do  not,  use  alcoholic  liquors,  it  is  obvious  that 
effort  must  be  applied  to  the  cure  of  those  who  are  sick,  and 

295 


296 


TIIE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


the  preservation  of  the  health  of  those  who  are  well,  — in 
other  words,  to  prevention  and  cure.  The  most  natural  and 
effective  and  easily  available  of  all  means  which  can  be 
employed,  is  the  prevention  of  the  manufacture  and  distribu- 
tion, by  wielding  the  strong  right  arm  of  society  — the  law. 
But  a strange  mental  infatuation  has  for  ages  been  upon  the 
mind  of  civilized  man,  and,  while  he  would  put  out  a con- 
flagration by  instinct,  he  has  not  only  permitted,  but  has 
even  kindled,  fed  and  protected  the  flames  of  alcohol, 
lighted  from  the  infernal  pit,  by  the  forces  of  positive  law. 
Of  this,  however,  more  hereafter. 

All  possible  effort  should  be  put  forth  to  save  the  drunkard 
which  does  not  divert  attention  from  the  child.  Compared 
■with  the  child,  it  is  of  little  consequence  what  becomes  of 
the  sot  or  even  of  the  moderate  drinker.  Cure  is  the  object 
in  his  case  ; prevention  of  disease,  the  preservation  of  health, 
and  the  transmission  of  uncontaminated  life  to  future  ages,  is 
the  great  purpose  in  our  treatment  of  the  child. 

In  all  past  time,  attention  and  effort  have  been  chief!}' con- 
centrated upon  the  habitual  consumer  of  liquors.  This  is 
natural,  for  he  is  the  victim  whose  wounds  and  bruises  and 
putrifying  sores  are  constantly  on  exhibition.  He  it  is  who 
riots,  murders,  starves  and  dies  to  illustrate  the  diabolical 
horrors  of  the  trade.  His  performances  are  of  a character 
to  engross  our  attention.  And  it  is  indispensable  that  these 
results  be  heeded  and  studied,  as  only  in  that  way  are  we 
enabled  to  discover  their  cause,  and  thus  to  apply  the  means 
of  cure  when  cure  is  possible,  and  to  prevent  their  spread 
among  those  who  are  not  yet  infected  by  the  plague. 

I would  not  prevent  one  heart-throb,  far  less  one  single 
effort,  for  the  rescue  of  those  already  in  the  slavery  of 
intemperate  habits.  And,  besides  them,  there  is  an  innumer- 
able multitude  of  those  tempted,  and  occasionally  indulging, 
who  can  certainly  be  saved.  It  is  the  highest  duty  to  save 
them,  and  to  save  them  all,  or  at  least  to  present  and  press 
upon  them  the  opportunity  of  reformation.  Society,  when 
at  all  aroused,  is  not  likely  to  neglect  this  duty. 

Churches  and  pastors,  lecturers  and  authors,  societies, 
open  and  secret,  and  personal  labor  and  persuasion,  in  every 
form,  are  all  brought  to  bear,  as  they  ought  to  be,  upon  the 


RESCUE,  BUT  EDUCATE. 


297 


actual  consumer  of  intoxicating  drink,  that  he  may  be  saved 
— and  he  is  saved,  sometimes.  There  is  no  trophy  like 
these  brands  plucked  from  the  burning,  although  they  be  hot 
generally  for  a while  after  rescue,  and  are  too  often  blackened 
and  smutty  even  when  the  tire  is  gone  out.  Compared  with 
one  solitary  sheep  that  was  lost,  what  are  the  ninety  and  nine 
who  never  went  astray?  Whose  testimony  is  like  the  grate- 
ful bleating  of  this  one  "poor  old  wedder  ” (as  the  camp- 
meeting hymn  expresses  it),  as  he  rides  triumphantly  home  on 
the  Good  Shepherd’s  back,  with  his  e}ms  scratched  blind, 
his  tattered  fleece  full  of  burrs  and  thorns,  and  half  his 
blood  sucked  out  by  the  ravenous  wolf  ? As  a listener  in 
temperance  meetings,  I have  sometimes  thought  it  a great 
thing  to  have  been  a lost  sheep  — provided  he  has  also  been 
found.  But  there  is  the  rub ; not  one  in  thousands  of  the 
lost  are  ever  brought  back  to  the  fold.  Xo  wonder  that 
there  is  more  joy  in  heaven  over  one  such  saved  than  over 
the  ninety  and  nine  who  went  not  astray.  But  who  can 
measure  the  good  which  that  one  rescued  lost  one  sometimes 
can  accomplish?  Whose  tale  so  moves  and  admonishes  and 
alarms?  Xo,  it  is  impossible  to  do  too  much  to  seek  and 
save  the  lost ; but  the  highest  and  holiest  consequence  of 
such  labor  will  fail  unless  it  stimulates  to  the  prevention  of 
that  in  others  which  in  the  inebriate  it  is  sought  to  cure. 

The  extinction  of  the  alcoholic  evil  is  an  educational  pro- 
cess. The  temperance  reform  is  to  be  successfully  wrought 
out  among  the  children  of  the  rising  and  of  coming  genera- 
tions. Save  the  children ; all  else  is  of  little  comparative 
consequence.  Everything  depends  upon  education  — the 
training  of  the  intellect  and  the  heart.  This  fundamental 
process  rightly  accomplished,  the  rest  follows. 

Especially  among  a free  people,  whose  institutions,  cus- 
toms and  laws  are  fashioned  by  the  popular  will,  is  education 
the  principal  thing.  While  growth  from  the  embryo  to  the 
perfect  state  is  common  to  both,  education  alone  creates  the 
difference  between  the  savage  and  the  civilized  man.  In  our 
day  there  is  perhaps  an  increasing  tendency  to  forget  the 
preponderating  importance  of  the  moral  nature,  and  to  exalt 
relatively  the  intellectual  powers  ; but  conscience,  even  more 
than  the  knowing  faculty,  is,  and  always  must  remain,  the 


298 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


fundamental  distinction  between  men  and  brutes.  An}r  sys- 
tem of  development  and  training  which  neglects  the  moral 
element  in  our  natures,  will  work  injury  and  produce  dan- 
gerous wild  beasts,  instead  of  noble,  wise  and  philanthropic 
citizens.  And  as  the  moral  nature  is  the  most  important,  so 
it  should  be  earliest  developed.  True,  that  the  soul  and  the 
body  are  a unit — a strange  compound  of  immortality  and 
matter  — and  the  whole  develops  together,  but  not  always  in 
due  proportion  ; and  if  the  moral  nature  be  half-dormant  or 
perverted,  the  mind  and  body  are  worse  than  lost.  The  first 
impressions  of  childhood  are  the  last  which  disappear  with 
age  and  death ; and  all  through  life  those  impressions,  con- 
sciously or  unconsciously,  fashion  character  and  control  ac- 
tion. Hence  it  is  that 

HOME  OR  TIIE  FAMILY 

is  the  primary  educational  institution  of  the  human  race. 

The  importance  of  fortunate  parentage  and  of  right  sur- 
roundings in  the  home  is  beyond  exaggeration,  and  whatever 
assails  its  integrity,  or  impairs  its  harmony  and  efficiency  as 
a formative  and  educational  institution,  is  like  the  serpent  in 
the  nest  of  the  bird. 

The  cruel  curse  of  alcohol  is  nowhere  so  great  as  in  the 
human  home.  It  does  in  fact  strike  the  human  element  out 
of  home,  and  substitutes  not  even  the  instinct  of  beasts  of 
prey  — that  would  be  a comparative  blessing  — but  all  the 
malignant  activities  of  hell.  The  drunkard’s  home  is  hell 
upon  earth.  As  I reflect  upon  this  sentence,  and  hesitate  to 
write  so  harshly,  I deliberately  leave  it  as  it  is  : for  it  is  mod- 
erate, and  seems  to  be  complete  — rough  but  true. 

Recognizing  the  necessity  of  well  ordered  and  temperate 
homes,  all  the  great  agencies  of  the  temperance  reform  have 
endeavored  to  permeate  them  with  restraining  and  elevating 
influences,  and  so  upon  the  home  have  been  concentrated  the 
strongest  and  wisest  efforts  of  the  Church  and  of  all  reforma- 
tory organizations.  But  it  is  impossible  fully  to  control  its 
creation,  and  consequently  the  subsequent  character  of  the 
home.  The  family  relation  is  formed  with  so  much  freedom, 
and  often  with  so  little  prudence,  on  the  part  of  those  who 
enter  into  it,  and  especially  with  such  indifference  to  the 


HOME  THE  PRIMARY  FIELD. 


299 


alcoholic  habit,  that  multitudes  of  the  homes  and  nurseries  of 
the  nation  seem  to  have  been  founded  only  for  the  patronage 
of  existing,  and  to  propagate  supporters  of  future  saloons. 

It  is  generally  impossible  to  get  inside  the  drunkard’s 
home  with  good  iniiuences  until  it  has  been  opened  by  explo- 
sions from  within,  and  its  waifs  and  fragments  fall  outcast 
upon  society.  Like  everything  else,  the  home  must  lie  made 
right  in  the  first  place ; and  so  it  follows  that  the  father  and 
mother,  the  original  factors  of  the  home,  must  themselves 
have  been  moulded  by  the  sweet  influences  which  in  their 
turn  they  are  expected  to  exert. 

And  here  looms  up  the  greater  family  still  — society  it- 
self— the  community  — the  State.  This  organization  exists 
from  the  very  nature  of  things,  and  is  no  more  an  artificial 
arrangement  than  the  primary  relation  of  individuals  for  the 
perpetuation  of  the  race.  The  " social  compact  ” is  "simply  a 
responsible  but  unavoidable  social  relation.  And  in  this 
larger  relation,  which  constitutes  the  highest  sphere  of 
action,  the  mightiest  and  godliest  personalities  engage  in 
high  endeavor,  and  the  most  benignant  and  efficacious  labors 
are  put  forth.  Here  is  the  field  of  those  who  consecrate 
themselves  wholly  to  the  rescue  and  redemption  of  mankind, 
and,  wielding  institutions  and  inspiring  all  instrumentalities, 
endeavor  to  concentrate  the  forces  of  the  State,  of  the  indi- 
vidual and  of  voluntary  association,  upon  the  right  educa- 
tion of  every  child,  that  the  home  of  the  future  may  be 
constantly  and  forever  happy  and  secure.  The  motto  of  the 
Women’s  Christian  Temperance  Union  recognizes,  in  fact 
builds  itself  upon,  the  idea  of  the  perfect  home  — of  a home 
rescued  if  need  be,  but  still  more  of  a home  which  never 
has  been  and  which  never  shall  be  lost. 

"For  God,  for  Home,  and  Native  Land.” 

Home  is  the  great  primary  field  of  action,  and  other  fields 
of  effort  are  sought  with  the  ultimate  purpose  of  reaching 
the  hoipe  — if  not  the  home  of  to-day  and  of  this  generation, 
then  the  home  of  the  millions  yet  to  be.  "Native  Land” 
will  be  just  what  Home  makes  it ; and  so,  with  God  as  their 
inspiration,  these  sacred  workers  strike  home  for  Home,  and 
by  every  form  of  educative  and  uplifting  influence,  they  seek 
to  save  the  child  of  to-day,  who  is  the  parent  of  to-morrow. 


300 


tiie  temperance  movement. 


So  the  work  oi  the  church  is  one  of  education ; education, 
primarily,  ot  the  conscience  and  of  the  religious  element  in 
man.  It  must  be  conceded  that,  in  the  days  which  are  fast 
passing  away,  through  that  ignorance  which  science,  observa- 
tion and  experience  have  now  dispelled,  the  various  depart- 
ments of  organized  Christianity  have  not  turned  their  full 
power  against  the  most  formidable  personification  of  evil  and 
sin  which  has  ever  reared  its  audacious  front  against  God 
and  man.  But  now  all  is  changed,  and  it  is  more  and  more 
perceived,  as  light  destroys  darkness,  that  a system  of  relig- 
ion, which,  in  the  fullness  of  its  purity  and  love,  not  only 
prohibits  all  sin,  but  demands  the  affirmative  activity  of 
every  power  of  the  soul  to  promote  individual  and  universal 
good,  is  against  the  traffic  in  alcohol  from  the  law  of  its  own 
being.  And  so  the  church  concentrates  its  holiest  and  most 
comprehensive  influences  upon  home  for  the  education  of  the 
child. 

But  the  home  is  imperfect,  is  often  broken,  and  frequently 
fails  in  the  objects  for  which  it  is  established;  hence,  from 
imperative  necessity,  society,  in  every  free  country,  has 
established  the  school  as  an  institution  of  the  State.  The 
common  school  is  the  nurseiy  of  personal  liberty  and  of  free 
institutions.  As  conscience  follows  faith  and  faith  depends 
largely  upon  intelligence,  the  public  school,  while  designed 
especially  to  give  the  opportunity  for  intellectual  training  and 
the  acquisition  of  the  useful  branches  of  common  knowledge, 
is  an  efficient  promoter  of  moral  culture,  by  developing  the 
intelligence  and  mental  discipline  required  for  accurate  dis- 
crimination between  right  and  wrong.  "When  properly  con- 
ducted, one  of  the  great  and  direct  objects  of  the  institution  is 
also  to  instill  the  great  principles  of  virtue  and  religion.  Xot 
indeed  the  technology  of  sects,  but  the  larger  precepts  which 
are  common  to  all  who,  within  the  limits  of  Christian  faith, 
believe  in  the  brotherhood  of  man  and  the  fatherhood  of 
God.  It  is  a mistake,  in  my  belief,  to  depart  from  the  general 
religious  character  of  the  common  school  as  our  fathers  estab- 
lished it,  so  far  as  to  omit  from  its  forms  the  simple  exercises 
which  are  a recognition  of  the  Christian's  God,  and  the  teach- 
ing  of  the  great  outlines  of  Christian  faith.  Xo  great  people 
ever  did,  and  probably  no  great  people  ever  will  exist,  with- 


THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS. 


301 


out  some  affirmative  and  general  religious  faith.  The  altar 
began  with  the  beginning  and  will  survive  until  the  founda- 
tions of  the  world  crumble  away. 

Ours  is  the  Christian  religion,  and  that  religion  is  founded 
upon  the  Bible.  While  I am  no  zealot,  I yet  believe  that  the 
common  schools  of  America  should  teach  the  common  prin- 
ciples of  the  Christian  faith,  and  its  morality,  in  such  large- 
ness of  outline  as  would  enable  the  child  of  the  Protestant 
and  of  the  Catholic  to  sit  side  by  side  studying  and  reciting 
from  the  same  text-book  of  a common  faith.  The  child  of 
the  Free-thinker,  of  the  Jew,  and  of  the  Pagan  should  cer- 
tainly receive  instruction  in  the  rudiments  of  the  general 
belief  of  the  country  in  which  he  lives.  If  that  faith  be  erro- 
neous, it  is  still  better  than  none,  and,  in  any  view,  knowl- 
edge of  it  is  all-important,  as  one  of  the  great  tacts  with 
which,  like  a scientific  theory  or  business  custom,  that  child 
will  constantly  collide  in  the  experiences  of  after  life.  That 
faith  does  now  constitute,  and  I believe  forever  will  consti- 
tute, the  very  spirit  of  the  constitutions,  laws  and  customs 
under  which  he  must  live.  There  is  no  danger  that  the  doc- 
trines of  Christianity,  as  taught  by  the  Master  himself,  freed 
from  the  secondary  and  unimportant  dogmas  of  particular 
sects,  will  harm  any  child ; and  the  general  good  demands 
that  the  great  formative  institution  of  the  State — the  com- 
mon school — should  at  least  teach  the  few  essential  doctrines 
of  a positive  morality  enforced  by  the  sanctions  of  a positive 
religion. 

The  homes  of  those  children  whose  parents  are  averse  to 
this  can  be  depended  upon  to  combat,  so  far  as  they  should 
be  controverted,  doctrines  which  in  the  opinions  of  the  par- 
ents are  likely  tc  exert  a pernicious  effect,  while  the  very 
large  proportion  of  children  who  otherwise  will  receive  no 
affirmative  instruction  in  moral  precepts  at  all,  seems  to  com- 
pel the  adoption  of  some  degree  of  unsectarian  moral  and 
religious  training,  in  the  perfect  common  school.  I believe 
that  the  dangerous  warfare  between  the  public  and  the 
denominational,  or  parochial,  system  of  schools  now  waging, 
and  which  is  so  portentous  of  coming  calamities,  could  easily 
be  averted  if  the  wise  and  good  men  who  lead  the  great 
divisions  of  Christian  thought  would  bring  to  the  solution  of 


302 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


this  difficulty  a mere  fraction  of  the  skill  and  ability  which 
have  been  exercised  in  the  creation  of  prejudice  and  estrange- 
ment in  the  past. 

That  this  has  not  already  been  done  indicates  that  our 
Christian  Alexanders  have  worlds  yet  left  to  conquer ; and  I 
believe  that  all  Christendom  would  hail  with  enthusiasm  some 
demonstration  that  Christian  leadership  fully  comprehends 
its  great  opportunity ; and  also  this  further  certainty  that 
the  Spirit  of  the  Age  will  destroy  any  power  which  seeks  to 
restrain  the  blessings  of  universal  knowledge,  or  to  hedge  in 
the  aspirations  of  the  humblest  human  soul.  There  are 
things  to  be  done  which  have  never  been  attempted.  It  is  a 
long  way  yet  to  the  promised  land.  Why  will  not  the 
religious  leaders  of  Christendom  enter  upon  the  great  work 
of  these  latter  days?  Why  should  the  bosom  of  the  church 
be  more  exclusive  than  the  bosom  of  God? 

Assume  the  millennium  as  a fixed  fact.  These  difficulties, 
then,  must  be  solved.  When?  Why  not  now?  The 
Spirit  of  the  Age,  which  is  the  spirit  of  the  Almighty,  will 
accomplish  its  work,  and  those  who  do  not  choose  to  fight  in 
harmony  with  the  stars  in  their  courses  can  take  the  other 
alternative,  and  perish  with  Sisera. 

The  common  school  is  the  one  institution  for  which  every 
intelligent  American  patriot  will,  if  need  be,  die.  There  is 
no  earthly  power  which  can  make  successful  war  upon  it,  and 
there  is  no  heavenl}"  power  which  will  not  be  put  forth  to  up- 
hold and  defend  it.  Let  religion  imbue  this  institution  with 
the  very  spirit  of  her  most  vital  inspiration  ! Let  her  mould, 
fashion,  elevate,  beautify  and  perfect  it.  But  the  free  school 
lives  whatsoever  else  among  our  institutions  dies.  The  free 
school  is  the  republic.  Esto  perpetua  ! 


TEMPERANCE  IN  TIIE  SCHOOLS. 

Until  within  a few  years,  about  one  generation,  there  has 
been  no  attempt  to  spread  a knowledge  of  the  human  body 
through  the  agency  of  the  public  school.  This  most  useful 
of  all  information  was  locked  up  in  the  books  of  a learned 
profession,  and  was  as  sacredly  guarded  as  the  heathen  mys- 
teries. But  the  medical  profession  is  now,  I had  almost  said, 
the  great  benefactor  of  the  race. 


Mrs.  M.  H.  Hunt , 


Superintendent  Scientific  Temperance  Instruction  in  Schools  and 
Colleges , National  IV.  C.  T.  U. 


SCIENTIFIC  TEMPERANCE  INSTRUCTION. 


303 


The  knowledge  of  anatomy,  physiology,  and  hygiene,  of 
the  structure  of  the  body,  of  the  functions  of  its  various 
parts,  and  of  the  laws  of  health,  has  been  simplified,  put  into 
intelligible  forms  of  expression,  and  laid  upon  the  desk  of 
every  child  in  the  common  schools  of  the  republic.  It  is 
impossible  to  conceive  the  full  importance  of  this  addition  to 
the  course  of  common  school  education.  Every  intelligent 
American  child  has  now  the  opportunity,  and  most  of  them 
improve  it,  to  acquire  a better  medical  education  than  was 
possessed  by  Hippocrates  or  Aristotle,  and  the  time  is  now 
at  hand  when  we  may  hope  that  the  common  people  will 
possess,  and  will  transmit  the  sound  body  and  the  sound 
mind  which  knowledge  of  the  structure  and  laws  of  their 
organization  alone  will  bestow. 

The  experience  of  a century  of  effort  in  combating  the 
evils  of  alcohol  has  demonstrated  that  nothing  can  be  de- 
pended upon  for  their  removal  but  a general  knowledge  of 
their  nature  and  extent  among  those  not  already  victims  of 
the  appetite.  There  is,  in  fact,  no  hope  of  permanent  suc- 
cess save  in  childhood  educated,  and  therefore  warned  that 
alcohol  in  all  its  forms,  however  beautiful  and  seductive, 
is  simply  a poison,  which  at  last  bites  like  the  serpent  and 
stings  like  the  adder.  When  that  impression  is  the  earliest 
and  most  powerful  one  upon  the  mind,  it  will  be  impossible  to 
tempt  the  uncontaminated  appetite,  and  the  child,  informed 
of  the  real  nature  of  the  bowl  which  sparkles  for  his  destruc- 
tion in  the  gilded  saloon,  will  no  more  enter  there  than  he 
would  seek  happiness  in  the  home  of  some  pestiferous 
disease.  The  overmastering  and  instantaneous  impulse  when 
tempted  will  be  the  same  as  if  a bowl  of  any  other  liquid 
poison,  whether  of  aconite,  or  prussic  acid,  or  of  strychnine, 
were  proffered  to  him  ; and  there  being  as  yet  no  appetite  to 
conquer  this  natural  dread,  the  child,  thus  fortified  by  knowl- 
edge, is  almost  sure  never  to  contract  the  habit,  into  which 
past  generations,  misled  by  their  ignorance,  have  fallen  almost 
as  readily  and  universally  as  they  have  taken  their  natural  food. 

More  and  more  have  philanthropists  come  to  comprehend 
that  in  the  education  of  the  child  lies  the  whole  secret  of 
success,  and  hence  during  the  last  ten  years  the  most  stren- 
uous efforts  have  been  put  forth  in  our  own  country  to  uti- 


304 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


lize  the  common  school  as  the  nursery  of  the  great  reform. 
The  Women’s  Christian  Temperance  Union  has  been  the 
most  important  agency  in  this,  as  in  fact  it  has  come  to 
be  in  all  strictly  temperance  work  and  social  reform.  Its 
department  of  scientific  instruction,  under  the  charge  of 
Mrs.  Mary  Id.  Hunt,  has  been  devoted  with  great  assiduity 
and  corresponding  success,  during  the  last  eight  years,  to 
securing  such  legislation,  local,  state  and  national,  "as  shall 
make  the  study  and  teaching  of  the  laws  of  health,  with  spe- 
cial reference  to  the  effects  of  stimulants  and  narcotics  upon 
the  human  body,  obligatory  throughout  the  entire  system  of 
public  education.”  Already  in  half  the  States  of  the  Union 
has  the  study  of  the  nature  and  effects  of  alcohol  and  other 
stimulants  been  introduced  by  law  into  the  common  schools, 
and  in  all  the  remaining  States  the  agitation  is  favorably 
progressing,  while  the  nation  itself  has  already  enacted 
probably  the  most  efficient  "Temperance  Education  Law” 
that  ever  was  devised ; and  that  national  law  is  in  actual 
operation  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  the  Territories,  and  in 
all  military  and  naval  schools  of  the  United  States.  Nor 
is  the  educational  effort  of  the  Union,  under  its  various  able 
and  zealous  superintendents,  confined  to  common  schools  ; 
it  extends  to  higher  institutions  of  learning — to  Sunday- 
schools,  temperance  kindergarten,  kitchen  garden,  temper- 
ance literature,  press  department,  the  suppression  of  impure 
literature,  the  relation  of  temperance  to  labor,  a department 
of  narcotics,  and  a national  temperance  hospital  and  training- 
schools  for  nurses.  Thus  does  this  great  organization  pro- 
ceed in  its  work  of  moral  enlightenment  with  a systematic 
grandeur  of  action  almost  like  the  motions  of  the  stars. 

But  the  utilization  of  the  common  school  in  the  temper- 
ance reform  is  perhaps  the  most  important  of  all  their  work. 
Already  it  may  be  accounted  as  done,  for  it  has  acquired 
such  momentum  that  it  will  be  impossible  to  delay  its  full 
accomplishment  much  longer.  The  inquiry  then  arises,  To 
what  extent  is  the  common  school  itself  sufficient  for  the 
work ; and  in  what  ways,  if  in  any , should  it  be  strength- 
ened and  promoted,  both  for  the  purposes  of  general  educa- 
tion, and  as  the  chief  means  of  spreading  permanent  temper- 
ance reform? 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION  BILL. 


305 


THE  EDUCATION  BILL. 

For  some  years  past  I have  had  occasion  to  study  the 
condition  of  popular  education  in  this  country,  and  have 
endeavored  to  place  the  truth  in  regard  to  it  before  the  peo- 
ple. The  census  of  1880  revealed  much  that  was  mortifying 
to  our  national  pride,  but  that  feeling  might  well  disappear 
in  genuine  patriotic  alarm  at  the  immense  and  increasing 
illiteracy  of  many  sections  of  the  Union.  Especially  dan- 
gerous is  the  condition  of  the  great  northern  cities,  and  of 
the  rural  white  and  the  general  colored  population  of  the 
South.  In  some  of  the  southern  cities  the  white  children 
have  fair  school  privileges,  and  in  a few  those  privileges  are 
excellent.  Since  the  taking  of  the  last  census,  in  some 
instances  there  has  been  an  improvement ; but,  on  the 
whole,  although  popular  anxiety  has  increased  in  those 
sections  where  the  necessity  is  greatest,  }ret,  by  reason  of 
the  unequal  diffusion  of  taxable  property,  and  in  fact  the 
general  poverty  of  the  people,  who  have,  as  the  statistics 
of  education  show,  cheerfully  submitted  to  lieav}r  burdens 
to  establish  and  develop  their  school  systems,  the  opportu- 
nities for  common  school  education  have  not  increased.  In 
some  few  places,  where  the  investment  of  capital  has  devel- 
oped a business  center,  schools  have  improved  ; but  vast 
masses  of  the  rural  population  are  now  worse  off,  if  possible, 
than  they  were  ten  j'ears  ago.  This  commentary  is  not  true 
simply  of  the  colored  race  but  of  the  white  race  also ; and  I 
think  the  problem  should  be  considered  quite  as  much  with 
reference  to  the  latter  as  to  the  former.  It  is  true  that  in  a 
certain  sense  the  nation  may  be  specialty  responsible  for  the 
condition  of  the  neirro,  because  the  nation  as  such  set  him  free. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  every  national  question  should  be 
dealt  with  for  the  general  good,  and  for  the  prosperity  and 
happiness  of  the  whole  people  in  all  time  to  come,  regardless  of 
race  and  previous  condition.  In  this  view  it  is  far  more  impor- 
tant to  educate  the  children  of  fourteen  millions  of  the  white, 
rather  than  the  children  of  six  millions  of  the  colored  race  ; at 
the  same  time  it  is  of  infinite  consequence  to  educate  both. 

But  the  man  who  now,  after  the  lapse  of  nearly  one-fourth 
of  a century,  can  cherish  the  resentments  of  war  against 
20 


306 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


the  proud,  gallant  and  patriotic  people  who  are  nationally 
hone  of  our  bone  and  flesh  of  our  flesh,  with  common  mem- 
ories of  a high  and  sacred  history,  more  precious  than  ever 
united  any  other  nation  in  the  whole  course  of  time,  and  a 
destiny  of  anticipated  glory  which  outshines  the  sun  in 
heaven,  is  hardly  worthy  to  be  called  an  American  citizen. 
I am  profoundly  desirous  that  the  colored  American  be  fully 
educated,  that  he  realize  every  right  and  privilege  guaranteed 
him  by  the  constitution  and  the  laws — and  too  often,  alas, 
he  is  deprived  of  them  ; but  his  complete  emancipation  de- 
pends upon  the  education  and  improvement  of  the  still  more 
numerous  and  more  powerful  white  population  by  whom  he 
is  surrounded,  and  upon  whom  the  burden  of  his  education 
is  all  too  heavily  cast.  The  white  man  of  to-day  is  no  more 
to  be  blamed  for  the  existence  of  slavery,  or  for  its  conse- 
quences, than  the  negro  himself.  It  is  utterly  impossible  to 
lift  the  negro  above  the  white  people  around  him,  and  it  is 
not  desirable  to  do  so  if  it  could  be  done. 

It  is  unnatural  and  abhorrent  to  a healthy  nature  to  neglect 
its  own  race  in  sympathy  for  .another.  It  is  stupendous  foll\r 
to  do  so  when  thereby  we  degrade  ourselves,  without  benefit  to 
the  colored  man.  No,  equal  and  exact  justice  to  all.  There 
is  room  enough  in  this  broad  land  for  both.  There  is  always 
room  for  all  when  there  is  justice  for  all.  But  even  one  little 
wrong  will  have  justice,  or  it  will  overthrow  the  universe. 

THE  ILLITERACY  OF  THE  COUNTRY. 

The  table  on  pages  308  and  309  exhibits  a condensed  state- 
ment of  the  educational  condition  of  our  country,  as  compiled 
in  the  year  1882,  from  the  returns  of  the  last  census.  It  is 
the  best  that  exists,  and  is  substantially  correct  to-day.  Popu- 
lation has  increased  from  fifty'  million  to  sixt}’  million,  and 
will  be  sixty-five  million  by  the  next  census ; but  expendi- 
ture for  schools,  and  their  general  status,  are  no  higher  now 
than  when  this  table  was  prepared,  and  it  should  always  be 
remembered  that  any  substantial  change  in  the  condition  of  a 
people  requires  persistent  effort  and  the  lapse  of  many  years. 
The  lessons  of  the  census  must  still  be  substantial!}'  true. 
Causes  have  not  been  in  existence  since  it  was  taken  which 
could  have  effected  any  great  and  favorable  transformation. 


EDUCATION  BILL  PBESENTED. 


307 


The  work  of  Hon.  John  Eaton,  late  Commissioner  of  Edu- 
cation, and  now  President  of  Marietta  College,  in  depicting, 
statistically  and  otherwise,  the  educational  condition  of  the 
country,  has  been  most  laborious  and  of  inestimable  value. 
I am  proud  of  an  opportunity  to  pay  this  slight  tribute  to 
one  of  the  great  benefactors  of  his  country. 

With  a view  to  assist  temporarily  in  the  equalization  of 
school  advantages  throughout  the  country,  and  to  prevent 
the  prolongation  of  the  alarming  illiteracy  of  the  present  by 
substituting  for  it  general  intelligence  as  fast  as  the  coming 
generation  can  be  educated,  what  is  known  as  the  " Bill 
to  aid  in  the  establishment  and  temporary  support  of  common 
schools  ” has  been  pressed  in  the  national  Legislature  since 
1881.  This  bill  has  been  twice  passed  by  the  Senate,  the 
first  time,  April  7,  1884,  by  a vote  of  33  to  11,  the  second, 
March  5,  1886,  by  a vote  of  36  to  11.  Although  strongly 
pressed,  and  in  the  last  Congress  having  more  than  a two- 
thirds  vote  in  favor  of  its  passage,  as  shown  by  the  ayes  and 
noes  taken  on  filibustering  motions  made  to  prevent,  and 
which  did  prevent  its  consideration,  it  has  never  }ret  been 
acted  upon  by  the  House. 

In  support  of  this  bill,  I had  the  honor  to  submit  remarks 
to  the  Senate,  a portion  of  which  I here  transcribe  because 
they  give  a more  condensed  statement  of  the  condition  of 
the  country,  and  of  the  absolute  necessity  of  action  for  the 
safety  of  the  republic,  than  I can  well  otherwise  present : 

" Mr.  President,  I now  come  to  certain  propositions  which 
I think  are  fairly  deducible  from  the  premises  already  laid 
down.  These  propositions  are,  I think,  true  : 

"First.  That  intelligence  and  virtue  generally  diffused 
among  the  masses  of  the  people  are  necessary  conditions  to 
the  existence  of  republican  governments  in  the  nation  and  in 
the  States. 

" Second.  That  in  so  far  as  ignorance  and  vice  exist  repub- 
lican governments  fail,  and  that  although  the  forms  of  free- 
dom may  continue,  j'et.  the  substance  will  be  eaten  out  and 
ultimately  the  fabric  itself  will  fall. 

"Third.  That  there  is  nowin  all  parts  of  the  country  a 
dangerous  degree  of  ignorance  among  the  people,  and  that 
those  invested  with  the  sovereignty,  which  is  the  suffrage, 


ILLITERACY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  (CisNsOS  of  18S0J. 


308 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


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<^<553sa5ioSSi5««3ss5s5a5l«K» 

OUR  NATIONAL  ILLITERACY. 


309 


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310 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


are,  by  reason  of  ignorance  to  a dangerous  degree,  unfitted 
to  exercise  the  functions  of  government. 

"Fourth.  That  this  mass  of  ignorance  is  increasing  and 
not  diminishing,  although  there  has  been  a slightly  greater 
increase  of  population  than  of  illiteracy,  relatively,  during 
the  decade  from  1870  to  1880  in  the  country  as  a -whole. 

" Fifth.  That  in  many  parts  of  the  country  conditions  are 
growing  rapidly  worse  rather  than  better,  and  that  the  evil 
is  of  that  peculiar  nature  that  the  local  power  and  dis- 
position to  apply  the  remedy  grows  less  as  the  necessity  for 
it  increases. 

" Sixth.  That  the  danger  to  the  country  is  everywhere, 
although  the  disease  may  be  largely  local ; that  ignorance 
anywhere  circulates  everywhere,  and  poisons  the  political 
and  social  life  of  each  State  and  of  the  whole  people. 

" Seventh.  That  the  remedy  must  be  applied  by  those 
who  perceive  the  danger ; that  if  there  is  anywhere  indiffer- 
ence to  the  remedy,  it  proves  that  there  is  the  more  occasion 
for  its  use,  and  that  the  insensibility  of  the  patient  requires 
at  once  such  measures  on  the  part  of  those  still  in  relatively 
sound  health  as  will  prevent  the  spreading  of  the  plague  ; 
and  that  the  cry  of  physicians  and  nurses  for  help  should 
control  our  action  rather  than  the  convulsions  or  the  stolid- 
ity of  the  patient. 

" Eighth.  But  in  this  case  there  is  neither  indifference  nor 
stolidity ; there  is  simply  an  inability  to  combat  the  plague 
unaided,  and  a cry  of  distress.  Ignorance  is  worse  in  a 
republic  than  the  pestilence. 

"Ninth.  That  the  exceptional  degree  of  illiteracy  prevail- 
ing in  some  parts  of  the  country,  as  it  constitutes  a common 
danger,  so  it  is  the  result,  historically,  of  causes  for  which  the 
whole  country  is  responsible,  and  that  those  portions  of  the 
land  which  have  been  free  from  the  immediate  presence  of 
the  institution  to  which  we  trace  the  evil,  are  not  without  par- 
ticipation in  the  guilt  as  well  as  the  lucre  which  appertained 
to  it. 

" That  everywhere  the  pharisee  business  is  played  out,  and 
the  prayer  of  the  publican  is  in  order. 

"Tenth.  Those  parts  of  the  country  where  there  is  least 
illiteracy  have,  as  a rule,  received  already  very  largely  pecu- 


Mrs.  E.  T.  Merrick , 


Pres.  W.  C.  T.  U.,  of  Louisiana. 


EDUCATIONAL  BILL  IN  CONGRESS. 


311 


niary  assistance  from  sources  which  originated  in  fortunate 
location  and  the  wise  providence  of  those  who  lived  before  < 
them,  and  that  there  is  justice  in  the  request  for  help  made 
by  those  whose  ancestors  acquired  and  defended  the  soil 
whereon  these  happy  millions  and  glorious  institutions  now 
repose  in  prosperity  and  strength. 

"Eleventh.  That  there  is  no  State  or  Territory  in  the 
Union  where  the  facilities  for  common-school  education 
should  not  be  greatly  increased,  and  none  where  twice  the 
amount  of  expenditure  and  effort  now  going  on  might  not 
profitably  be  made. 

"Twelfth.  That  local  taxation  is  very  heavy,  falling 
chiefly  upon  homesteads  and  visible  personal  property  and 
the  estates  of  those  least  able  to  bear  taxation,  which  should 
come  from  the  surplus  of  society  and  not  from  its  primary 
means  of  existence,  while  the  national  income  is  derived 
mainly  from  things  either  better  not  consumed  at  all,  and 
therefore  the  more  heavily  taxed  the  better  still,  because 
there  will  be  the  less  of  that  harm  which  comes  from 
consumption,  or  from  articles  paid  for  by  those  who 
have  the  surplus  earnings  and  accumulated  wealth  of 
society. 

"Thirteenth.  That  since,  at  the  present  time,  the  national 
taxation  is  far  less  burdensome  to  the  masses  of  the  people, 
•upon  whom  falls  much  more  heavily  the  weight  of  the 
support  of  State  and  local  institutions,  and  also,  since  the 
existence  of  the  nation  is  as  much  imperiled  by  ignorance 
as  the  perpetuity  of  the  States,  therefore  the  common  good 
requires  the  appropriation  of  national  aid  to  the  support  and 
maintenance  of  common  schools. 

" Fourteenth.  That  this  aid  should  be  distributed  in  such 
way  and  should  continue  so  long  as  is  necessary,  in  order  to 
equalize  the  facilities  for  common-school  education,  and  to 
once  elevate  the  status  of  the  masses  of  the  community  to  a 
high  standard  of  intelligence,  at  which  point  and  after  which 
the  community  would,  in  self-defense  and  from  the  instinct 
which  inclines  men  to  keep  a good  when  they  possess  it,  be 
sure  to  educate  itself  sufficiently  without  national  help. 
This  is  proved  : that  systems  of  education  are  best  supported 
and  most  firmly  fixed  in  the  most  intelligent  States.  Those 


312 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


States  would  as  soon  surrender  their  liberties  as  their  schools. 
They  are  synonymous. 

"1  now  pass  to  consider  the  ability  of  the  different  sections 
to  bear  taxation.  The  ability  of  communities  to  bear  taxa- 
tion is  not  in  proportion  to  their  relative  total  wealth  or 
property.  But  there  must  first  be  deducted  as  properly 
exempt  from  any  imposition  so  much  property  and  produc- 
ing power  as  is  necessaiy  to  subsistence,  and  taxation  cannot 
be  sustained  except  upon  the  surplus  remaining,  if  any. 
The  valuation  per  capita  of  the  New  England  States  is  $661 ; 
of  the  Middle  States,  $473  ; of  the  Western  States,  $334 ; 
of  the  Territories,  $211;  of  the  Southern  States,  $155;  of 
the  colored  population,  not  over  $5  ; average  of  the  whole 
country,  $337. 

" But  the  ability  to  bear  taxation  depends  upon  producing 
power  at  the  time  the  levy  is  made  as  much  as  upon  accumu- 
lated property,  for  property  will  not  sell,  and  consequently 
cannot  pay,  unless  producing  forces  are  active. 

"The  census  shows  that  from  1870  to  1880,  in  the  States 
of  Virginia,  West  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina, 
Georgia,  Florida,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  Texas, 
Arkansas,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee,  thirteen  States,  there 
was  a net  loss  in  valuation  of  $202,868,844.  In  Texas  there 
was  a gain  of  $170,631,586;  in  Georgia,  $12,253,080; 
North  Carolina,  $25,721,580;  total,  $208,606,246.  Conr 
sequently  the  total  loss  of  valuation  in  the  other  ten  States 
enumerated  was  the  enormous  sum  of  $411,475,090  in  ten 
years. 

" Bear  in  mind  these  are  not  the  ten  years  during  which 
the  slaves  were  liberated.  These  were  the  ten  years  between 
1870  and  1880. 

"Mr.  Miller,  of  New  York. — If  it  will  not  interrupt  the 
Senator,  I should  like  to  ask  him  if  it  is  not  possible  that 
that  difference  or  shrinkage  of  value  in  some  of  the  Southern 
States  is  accounted  for  by  the  difference  in  the  value  of 
money  in  the  census  reports,  being  currency  in  1870  and 
gold  in  1880? 

" Mr.  Blair.  — I cannot  say  in  regard  to  that.  That  is  an 
open  question,  upon  which  everybody  can  draw  his  own  infer- 
ence. But  during  the  same  time,  in  the  country  at  large,  as 


EDUCATIONAL  BILL  IN  CONGRESS. 


313 


the  Senator  knows,  the  aggregate  valuation,  which  undoubt- 
edly was  made  upon  the  same  substantial  basis  in  all  parts  of 
the  country,  very  nearly  doubled.  It  went  from  sixteen 
billion  to  thirty  billion  dollars  or  more,  if  I recollect  aright. 
I will  not  vouch  for  figures,  but  I think  it  was  from  sixteen 
to  thirty  billion  dollars,  the  actual  values.  The  Senator  will 
observe,  too,  that  in  three  of  the  States  enumerated  there 
was  an  actual  increase:  in  North  Carolina  of  $25,000,000, 
in  Texas  of  $170,000,000,  and  in  Georgia  of  $12,000,000. 
I apprehend  that  the  valuation  is  substantially  on  the  same 
basis. 

" Mr.  Edmunds.  — How  do  you  account  for  it? 

" Mr.  Blair.  — I account  for  it  in  the  actual  diminution  in 
the  cash  value  of  the  property  in  those  States,  if  the  figures 
are  worth  anything. 

"Mr.  Edmunds.  — But  how  do  you  account  for  it? 

"Mr.  Blair.  — From  the  general  influences  that  operated 
in  that  section  of  the  country.  I think  the  data  before  the 
country  very  plainly  show  in  most  of  these  same  States  a 
quickening  and  revival  in  the  business  tendencies  and  in  the 
business  activity  of  the  people,  and  a general  inclination  to 
the  investment  of  capital  from  abroad.  The  jieople  are 
turning  their  attention  to  industrial  questions,  and  very 
rapidly.  The  face  of  the  South  is  being  transformed,  and 
the  old  poetic  quotation  will  come  in  one  of  these  days ; the 
South  will  really  bud  and  blossom  as  the  rose,  and  that 
before  a great  while.  But  between  the  years  1870  and  1880 
we  all  know  the  condition  of  the  Southern  country,  and  I do 
not  think  I could  elucidate  the  subject  in  such  a way  that  it 
would  be  better  understood  than  the  honorable  Senator  from 
Vermont  and  others  already  understand  it. 

" The  lack  of  education  among  the  masses  of  the  people  is 
undoubtedly  one  more  reason  why  property  depreciated  ; 
perhaps  the  greatest  reason  was  the  absence  of  schools,  and 
that  was  one  cause  why  northern  immigration  failed  to  find 
its  home  in  the  South  rather  than  in  the  West.  If  there  is 
anything  that  a Northern  man  or  a Northern  family  wants,  it 
is  a chance  to  educate  the  children.  They  will  not  go 
where  there  are  no  schools.  It  is  only  b}r  the  establish- 
ment of  schools  that  that  portion  of  the  country  can  avail 


314 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT, 


itself  of  the  natural  tendency  to  immigration  in  that  direc- 
tion, either  of  individuals  or  of  capital. 

” The  decrease  in  the  losing  States  varied  from  45  to  78 
per  cent.  I call  attention  to  the  thread  of  what  I was  say- 
ing, showing  a decrease  in  the  valuation  in  ten  of  those 
States  of  $411,000,000.  During  the  same  ten  3rears  the 
increase  of  population  Avas  4,006,982,  which  is,  I suppose, 
at  least  30  per  cent,  of  the  population  of  the  same  thirteen 
States  in  1870. 

" Ignorance  and  poverty  procreate  faster  than  intelligence 
and  wealth. 

"Again,  ability  to  bear  taxation  for  a certain  purpose  will 
depend  upon  the  other  existing  demands  for  the  application 
of  revenue.  In  a great  section  of  our  country  the  fixed 
capital,  the  houses,  structures  of  all  kinds  for  residence  and 
business  of  every  description,  highways,  and  other  means  of 
transportation,  etc.,  Avere  lately  destroyed  by  fire  and  sword, 
and  when  for  that  reason  they  have  to  be  replaced,  or  must 
be  produced  as  a primary  condition  to  existence  and  advance- 
ment for  any  reason,  the  taxation,  such  as  poor  and  strug- 
gling communities  can  bear,  must  be  greatly  absorbed  in 
these  uses.  A community  has  certain  primary  physical 
necessities  like  an  individual,  and  as  he  must  eat  before  he 
learns  to  read,  so  the  community  must  provide  for  some 
things  eA'en  before  it  provides  completely  for  the  intellectual 
culture  of  its  children  ; hence  it  would  be  expected  for  all 
these  causes  that  the  people  in  the  Southern  States  would  be 
able  to  pay  far  less  for  the  support  of  common  schools  than 
other  portions  of  the  American  people.  Yet,  as  a fact,  they 
pay  in  proportion  to  their  valuation,  in  proportion  to  their 
capacity  to  be  taxed,  a great  deal  more  for  the  education  of 
their  children.  It  is  not  a question  of  effort,  but  of  strength. 

"The  rate  per  cent,  of  school  to  total  taxation  is,  in  New 
England,  20.2  per  cent.  ; Middle  States,  19.5  per  cent.  ; 
Western  States,  26.6  per  cent.  ; Territories,  22.4  per  cent.  ; 
Southern  States,  20.1  per  cent.  ; average,  whole  country, 
22.6  per  cent. 

"Mr.  Edmunds.  — Do  you  mean  on  the  total  Actuation ? 

"Mr.  Blair. — No;  the  percentage  of  school  taxation  to 
the  entire  amount  of  taxation. 


y.  C.  Price , 

President  of  Zion's  College , Raleigh , tV.  C. 


EDUCATIONAL  BILL  IN  CONGIiESS. 


315 


" Mr.  Edmunds.  — To  a fixed  ratio. 

" Mr.  Blair.  — Taking  the  entire  taxation  of  the  country 
and  dividing  that  taxation  into  groups,  the  New  England 
States,  the  Middle  States,  the  Western  States, 'the  Territo- 
ries, and  the  Southern  States.  In  New  England  20.2  per 
cent,  of  all  taxation  is  given  to  education,  to  schools. 

" Mr.  Edmunds.  — That  percentage  of  the  total  for  all 
purposes  ? 

" Mr.  Blair.  — Of  the  amount  of  all  taxes  raised  and  col- 
lected. For  instance,  where  there  is  $100,000  raised  in  any 
given  community  in  New  England,  $20,200  of  that  $100,000 
is  applied  to  schools;  in  the  Middle  States,  $19,500  of  the 
$100,000  is  applied  to  schools;  in  the  Western  States, 
$26,600  is  applied  to  schools;  in  the  Territories,  $22,400  is 
applied  to  schools;  in  the  Southern  States,  $20,100  is 
applied  to  schools ; and  the  average  for  the  whole  country  of 
every  $100,000  of  taxation  is  $22,600.  It  has  a very 
important  bearing  on  the  merits  of  the  proposition  that  this 
table  be  understood. 

" I now  proceed  to  consider  the  increase  of  educational 
expenditures  required.  I have  not  dared  to  make  these  cal- 
culations up  to  what  I think  they  really  should  be  ; they  are 
the  minimum.  The  education  of  children  is  a business  just 
as  much  as  the  running  of  a government,  or  a line  of  trans- 
portation, or  the  raising  of  crops.  A plant  is  first  required. 
The  child,  ignorant  of  his  letters,  is  the  raw  material ; and, 
in  theory  at  least,  the  young  man  or  woman,  instructed  in  the 
rudiments  of  knowledge  and  skilled  in  the  primary  arts  for 
its  acquisition,  is  the  manufactured  article. 

"Fall ins:  back  upon  the  returns  of  the  Bureau  of  Educa- 
tion of  1881,  the  latest  and  most  reliable  we  have,  and  bear- 
ing in  mind  all  that  I have  said  in  the  early  part  of  my 
remarks  of  the  increase  since  that  time,  and  the  enlarged 
proportions  of  the  problem  we  are  dealing  with,  I ask 
attention  to  the  following  facts  : 

"In  1881  there  were  children  of  the  school  ages  in  the 
United  States  not  enrolled,  that  is,  not  attending  at  all  any- 
where in  public  or  private  schools,  6,030,936. 

" I -will  here  state  that  educators  complain  everywhere 
that  they  lack  accommodations  for  those  who  are  actually 


31 6 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


enrolled.  There  are  no  school-houses  for  their  accommo- 
dation. In  fact,  there  are  not  sittings  for  more  than  are 
enrolled  anywhere.  A school-house  for  fifty  pupils  cannot 
cost  less  than  $300.  We  have,  then,  a necessity  for  increase 
of  school-houses  120,567,  and  of  teachers  at  least  the  same 
number.  The  houses  would  cost  $36,170,100  ; if  }'ou  fit  the 
teachers  with  one  year  of  instruction,  at  $250,  $30,141,850  ; 
teachers'  wages  for  three-month  school,  at  $30,  boarding 
themselves,  about  50  cents  per  dajr  — one-third  pay  of 
diggers  of  ditches  and  drains  — $10,854,930 ; cost  of 
books,  which  must  be  paid  for  by  some  one,  $180,782; 
total,  $77,347,662,  to  provide  the  plant  and  run  it  three 
months  for  the  instruction  of  the  children  not  now  attending 
school  at  all  in  this  country. 

" Take  now  the  seventeen  Southern  States,  including  the 
District  of  Columbia.  There  were  not-enrolled  children  of 
school  ages  returned  to  the  bureau  in  the  year  1881,  2,873,- 
399  ; school-houses  and  teachers  required,  57,465  ; cost  of 
houses  at  $300  each,  $17,239,500;  cost  of  fitting  teachers 
at  $250  one  year,  $14,366,250;  pay  for  three  months, 
wages  at  $30  per  month,  teacher  paying  board,  $5,172,750; 
school-books,  $86,148- — -a  total  cost  to  provide  for  and 
instruct  for  three  months  the  children  not  now  enrolled  in 
public  or  private  schools,  $36,864,648,  of  which  $31,692,898 
is  necessary  before  the  schools  could  begin. 

"Now,  all  this  done,  in  addition  to  what  already  exists 
North  and  South,  the  country  would  be  onl}'  tolerably  sup- 
plied with  a school  plant,  the  repair  and  reproduction  of 
which,  with  constant  increase  of  investment  to  perform 
properly  the  increasing  educational  work,  must  be  pro- 
vided for. 

" But  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  a school  of  three 
months  leaves  nine  months  in  the  3’ ear  in  which  to  forget 
what  has  been  learned  in  the  three.  Man\T  schools  are  far 
less  in  duration,  and  consist  of  but  a single  term  during  the 
)rear,  some  not  more  than  three  or  four  weeks,  in  fact. 
These  averages  are  pernicious,  inasmuch  as  it  is  like  an 
effort  to  divide  the  crime  or  miseiy  of  the  countiy  according 
to  population,  and  sa}r  that  each  person  suffers  25  per  cent, 
from  cancer,  or  is  three-fourths  a lunatic,  or  50  per  cent,  a 


EDUCATIONAL  BILL  IN  CONGRESS. 


317 


murderer.  But  it  is  the  best  we  can  do,  and  in  no  event 
are  we  likely  fully  to  grasp  the  tremendous  significance  of 
the  solid  facts.  The  schools,  in  my  opinion,  should  be  six 
months  yearly,  and  be  divided  in  two  terms.  That  is 
enough ; and  the  rest  of  the  time  of  vouth  should  be  <nven 
to  industrial  improvement  and  recreation. 

" The  actual  yearly  expenditures  of  all  moneys  for  public 
schools  in  the  whole  country  is  at  this  time  just  about 
$80,000,000.  I believe  that  to  be  a liberal  estimate.  Of 
this,  in  the  sixteen  Southern  States,  with  the  District  of 
Columbia,  there  may  be  $14,000,000.  In  the  year  1881  it 
was  $13,359,784,  as  returned  to  the  Commissioner  of  Edu- 
cation. The  schools  average  about  three  months  yearly. 

" If  we  deduct  the  $14,000,000  from  $80,000,000,  Ave 
haAre  remaining,  as  the  expenditure  in  the  rest  of  the  country, 
$66,000,000.  As  these  Southern  States  have  one-third  the 
total  population,  in  order  to  place  that  section  upon  an 
equality  of  privilege  with  the  rest,  there  should  be,  instead 
of  $14,000,000,  a yearly  expenditure  of  $33,000,000  for  her 
enrolled  children,  and  none  of  these  calculations  make  any 
provision  for  children  not  enrolled  at  all. 

" It  is  too  Ioav  an  estimate  to  saj’  that  in  the  North  there 
should  be  an  expenditure  of  $100,000,000  at  once  to  increase 
school  facilities,  provide  and  qualify  teachers  for  their  Avork, 
and  at  least  as  much  more  in  the  South,  or  in  the  Avhole 
country  $200,000,000.  Upon  the  present  basis  of  expend- 
iture in  the  North,  there  Avould  be  $100,000,000  annually 
paid  for  the  support  of  public  schools  in  the  Avhole  country. 
If  one-third  of  the  children  are  iioav  unenrolled  and  unpro- 
vided for  there  should  be  an  increase  in  yearly  expenditure 
of  $50,000,000  on  their  account.  This  Avould  make  the 
annual  cost  of  our  public  schools  only  $150,000,000,  and 
Avould  give  to  all  the  children  of  the  Avhole  country  but  six 
months’  training  each  year,  and  to  teachers  only  the  pay 
of  common  laborers  or  less. 

"The  proposition  of  the  Senator  from  Illinois  [Mr.  Logan] 
— setting  aside  the  source  of  supply  from  Avhich  he  proposed 
to  uet  the  money,  Avhich  Avould  have  a tendency  to  identify 
the  support  of  the  public  schools  Avith  the  prosperity  of  a 
business  which  I hope  Avill  yet  disappear  from  the  earth, 


318 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


which  proposition  was  to  appropriate  about  $80,000,000 
yearly  to  schools  — is  really  moderate  when  the  necessities 
of  the  problem  are  fairly  stated,  and  I take  this  occasion  to 
say  that  the  proposition  of  the  Senator  from  Illinois,  divested 
ot  the  objectionable  feature  referred  to,  is  worthy  of  a great 
statesman  and  far-seeing  patriot.  There  is  nothing  the 
matter  but  our  own  failure  to  fully  appreciate  the  stern 
requirements  of  the  situation. 

" If  fifty,  eighty,  or  one  hundred  millions  could  be  sub- 
stituted for  the  fifteen  millions  proposed  in  this  bill,  and 
the  whole  distributed  upon  the  basis  of  population,  or  of 
illiteracy,  temporarily,  it  would  be  far  better.  But  I have 
no  hope  of  the  adoption  of  such  a measure,  and  the  com- 
mittee felt  under  the  necessity  of  confining  the  amount  to 
the  comparative  pittance  of  fifteen  millions,  which  must, 
necessarily,  if  not  very  largely  increased,  be  confined  to  the 
dense  clouds  of  ignorance  where  explosions  are  threatened ; 
that  is  to  say,  it  must  be  applied  locally  to  the  evil  itself. 
In  States  which  receive  but  little,  comparatively  little  is 
wanted. 

" Even  after  $15,000,000  are  divided  upon  the  basis  of 
illiteracy,  the  individual  child  will  receive  for  his  education 
in  California,  $15.12;  in  Coloi’ado,  $14.34 ; in  Connecticut, 
$10.71;  in  Nevada,  $14.40;  in  New  Hampshire,  $10.07; 
in  Rhode  Island,  $11.36  ; in  District  of  Columbia,  $13.61  ;. 
and  in  Massachusetts,  $19.21. 

"While  in  Alabama  he  will  receive  $3.64;  in  Arkansas,. 
$3.13;  in  Florida,  $3.75;  in  Georgia,  $4.03;  in  Kentucky, 
$3.67;  in  Louisiana,  $4.96;  in  Mississippi,  $4.09;  in  Vir- 
ginia, $3.94;  in  West  Virginia,  $4.31;  in  North  Carolina, 
$3.26  ; in  South  Carolina,  $5.05. 

" While  the  immediate  need  in  these  last  States  is,  at 
least,  for  double  the  education  called  for  in  the  first  group. 

" This  bill  appropriates  $15,000,000  the  first  year,  and  will 
give  to  every  State  and  Territory  $3  for  each  person  over 
ten  years  of  age  who  cannot  read,  and  $2.41  for  each  person 
who  cannot  write,  lessening  in  amount,  that  is  according  to- 
the  basis  of  distribution,  $1,000,000  yearly  for  ten  years, 
when  all  payments  are  to  cease. 

" The  State  will  apply  the  funds  and  render  a yearly 


EDUCATIONAL  BILL  IX  CONGRESS. 


319 


account  of  the  manner  in  which  the  work  is  done.  The 
Executive,  if  dissatisfied,  can  withhold  further  expenditures, 
subject  to  the  action  of  Congress. 

" Each  State  and  Territory  must  expend  for  school  pur- 
poses at  least  one-third  the  amount  received  during  the  first 
five  years,  and  an  equal  amount  the  second  five  years  of  the 
operation  of  the  bill  if  it  should  become  a law. 

" States  receiving  small  amounts  can  expend  the  same  for 
normal  instruction,  teachers’  institutes,  or  otherwise,  as  they 
prefer.  The  amount  that  New  Hampshire  receives,  for 
instance,  would  increase  her  normal-school  facilities  more 
than  threefold  beyond  the  present  expenditure  of  the  State, 
or  give  59  cents  yearly  to  persons  of  school  age. 

" The  fu-nds  must  be  applied  to  schools  and  not  to  struct- 
ures, not  exceeding  one-tenth  to  the  qualification  of  teachers, 
which  is  the  first  necessity.  The  States  are  required  to  so 
use  the  fund  as  to  bring  about  an  actual  equalization  of 
school  advantages  to  all  children  alike.  Industrial  education 
is  provided  for  when  practicable,  which  will  be  but  seldom, 
although  something  may  be  done  in  suitable  localities  and 
in  the  way  of  beginning. 

" We  are  a great  way  deeper  in  the  mire  than  we  realize 
when  we  talk  of  doing  much  in  the  way  of  teaching  trades 
and  occupations  before  our  children  can  half  of  them  find  a 
chance  to  learn  to  read.  But  it  will  come  in  time,  and 
a beginning  can  now  be  made  in  the  tvay  of  setting  out  a few 
young  trees. 

" The  Territories  are  of  the  utmost  importance,  and  the 
bill  undertakes  to  provide  for  them  indispensable  legislation, 
both  in  appropriations  and  administration. 

" The  method  of  expenditure  in  the  States  is  the  same, 
substantially,  which  has  already  been  adopted  by  the  Senate 
in  the  passage  of  the  bill  establishing  a national  school  fund 
from  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  ot  public  lands,  etc.  As  both 
parties  have  already  indorsed  that  method  of  expenditure  on 
more  than  one  occasion,  the  committee,  or  at  least  a majority 
of  its  members,  have  thought  best  to  avoid  all  chance  for 
controversy  on  that  subject  by  adopting  that  which,  having 
been  repeatedly  sanctioned,  can  not  now  be  repudiated  with 
consistency. 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


520 


" I also  embrace  this  fitting  opportunity  to  say  that  I fully 
believe  that  the  States  will  everywhere  disburse  the  moneys 
received  under  this  bill,  if  it  becomes  a law,  in  good  faith, 
and  with  as  sacred  regard  to  the  demands  of  prudence  and 
honor  in  one  section  of  the  country  as  in  the  other.  For  a 
year  or  two  there  may  be  some  possible  confusion  in  setting 
up  and  testing  machinery,  but,  in  the  existing  condition  of 
the  public  mind,  the  better  way  is  to  give  outright  to  the 
States  and  hold  them,  as  they  desire  to  be  held,  to  an 
undivided  responsibility,  to  be  redeemed  upon  their  honor. 
We  shall  not  trust  to  that  honor  in  vain. 

" Mr.  President,  the  absolute  necessities  of  this  nation,  of 
these  States,  of  their  darkened  present  and  of  the  portentous 
future,  demand  the  appropriation  of  public  money  from  a 
full  Treasury  to  aid  in  the  establishment  and  support  of 
common  schools  throughout  the  countiy. 

" Sir,  I appeal  to  the  facts,  and  entreat  the  Senate  to  pass 
this  bill.” 

Notwithstanding  the  needy,  or,  at  least,  neglected  condition 
of  many  of  the  large  Northern  cities,  where  ignorance  holds  the 
balance  of  power  and  really  controls  States,  some  disposition  to 
misconstrue  the  purpose,  deny  the  need,  and  to  misrepresent 
the  provisions  of  the  measure,  has  been  manifested,  in  the 
North  as  well  as  in  the  South,  generally  by  those,  however, 
who  at  heart  are  opposed  to  universal  education,  because  it 
distributes  the  soveregnity  among  the  masses  of  the  people, 
where  it  belongs. 

To  the  Northern  people  the  following  views  may  be  spe- 
cially important ; and  one  thing  is  true  : this  countiy  will  grow 
rich  and  powerful  or  poor  and  contemptible  together.  We 
are  one  people  for  better  or  for  worse. 

The  absolute  necessity  of  a homogeneous  civilization 
throughout  the  country,  which  can  only  exist  as  the  result  of 
like  educational  facilities  extended  to  all  the  people,  is  an 
irresistible  argument  for  national  assistance  until  adequate 
school  privileges  are  universal ; in  this  view  the  Northern  peo- 
ple are  intensely  interested  in  the  education  and  elevation  of 
all  parts  of  the  country  alike.  Cain  was  his  brothers 
keeper  in  spite  of  himself,  and  was  held  responsible  for  him 
with  more  than  his  own  life  : and  if  one  part  of  the  country, 


Mrs.  Sallie  F.  Chapin , 

Superintendent  of  Southern  Work , National  IV.  C.  T.  U. 


TIIE  NEW  SOUTH. 


321 


by  reason  of  more  favorable  conditions  in  the  past,  has  now 
less  of  illiteracy  and  more  of  wealth,  it  by  no  means  follows 
that  those  who  can  meanly  boast  of  such  advantages  have 
more  of  virtue,  patriotism,  or  of  desirable  brains. 

I submit  the  following  views  as  worthy  of  the  profound 
consideration  of  m}r  countrymen  everywhere,  and  especially 
of  our  Northern  people,  whose  industries  and  institutions  have 
been  erected  upon  a more  fortunate  model  than  that  after 
which  society  was  fashioned  where  slavery  once  prevailed. 
And  we  ought  to  know  that  old  things  have  now  passed  away. 
It  is  time  that  all  things  were  new. 

The  war  between  the  nation  and  the  Southern  States  was 
a conflict  between  systems  of  industrial  production.  One 
system  secured  to  the  wage-laborer  high  returns  for  his  toil 
and  to  the  individual  producer  high  prices  for  his  commodity. 
The  other  system  paid  the  common  laborer  the  scant  necessa- 
ries of  life,  just  enough  to  create  and  preserve  him  as  a profi- 
table animal  or  an  efficient  machine,  while  the  entire  product 
as  well  as  the  plant  of  fixed,  circulating,  and  living  capital 
was  owned  by  the  employer. 

These  two  systems  collided  in  Kansas,  and  the  war  which 
followed  abolished  the  forms  of  slaveiy,  retaining  much  of  its 
power,  because  the  ignorance  which  made  slavery  possible, 
with  the  prejudice  against  work  which  grew  out  of  its  degra- 
dation, was  neither  removed  nor  seriously  diminished. 

More  than  twenty  years  have  now  elapsed  since  peace 
was  restored,  during  which  long  period  considerable  progress 
has  been  made  in  the  South  in  the  diversification  of  industries 
and  of  production  and  in  the  increase  of  general  intelligence. 
A corresponding  increase  of  compensation  has  resulted  to  all 
laboring  men,  whether  wage-workers  or  producers  with  small 
capital  of  their  own,  and  some  advancement  has  been  made. 

The  wonderful  natural  resources  of  the  South  are  now 
being  constantly  bought  up  by  the  capital  of  the  North  and 
of  other  countries.  Already,  the  Southern  market  for  many 
forms  of  goods  once  furnished  from  the  North  or  from 
Europe,  as  well  as  for  agricultural  productions  and  raw  mate- 
rials, is  being  supplied,  as  it  should  be,  at  home.  More  than 
this,  the  South  is  already  invading  the  Northern  and  North- 
western markets,  and  is  competing  for  trade  with  production 
21 


322 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


of  which  the  highly  paid  labor  and  capital  of  the  North  is 
the  chief  element. 

Foreseeing  the  inevitable,  Northern  capital  and  invest- 
ments are  seeking  the  South  where,  with  labor  of  all  kinds, 
agricultural,  mechanical,  and  operative,  skilled  and  unskilled, 
upon  an  average  not  more  than  one-half  or  two-thirds  as  high, 
when  paid  in  actual  money  or  in  commodities  at  cash  prices, 
as  in  the  North,  the  profits  of  their  new  location  will  replace 
the  depreciation  and  losses  which  are  impending  to  their 
investments  at  home. 

It  is  safe  to  predict  that  within  ten  years,  unless  new  and 
important  factors  are  combined  with  existing  conditions,  the 
productions  of  the  South,  after  fully  supplying  their  own,  Avill 
compete  in  Northern  markets,  with  most  of  the  commodities 
which  now  are  the  chief  production  of  the  old  free  States,  at 
prices  so  low  as  to  make  it  a matter  of  indifference  to  North- 
ern labor  whether  the  protective  tariff  against  the  products 
of  "foreign  pauper  labor”  be  removed  or  continued,  or  even 
Avhether  Chinese  or  foreign  contract  labor  be  longer  excluded 
from  our  shores. 

The  farm  laborers  and  operatives  of  both  races  in  the  South 
are  rapidly  acquiring  the  skill  required  to  equal  that  of  cor- 
responding classes  at  the  North,  while  the  facts  that  women 
and  children  are  more  generally  employed,  and  that  all  work 
more  hours  than  at  the  North,  enables  a given  population,  if 
of  equal  intelligence  and  skill,  to  produce  more  for  a time  at 
least,  than  the  same  number  could  under  the  more  liberal 
treatment  of  manual  workers  in  the  old  free-labor  States. 

The  South  contains  very  nearly,  perhaps  fully,  one-half 
the  natural  resources  of  the  Avhole  country,  and  is  certainly 
capable  of  greater  rapidity  of  development  during  the  next 
quarter  of  a century  than  the  North  and  West.  Already  she 
has  more  than  one-third  the  entire  population  of  the  Union. 
Her  rate  of  natural  increase  is  equal  to  that  of  the  North 
Avith  our  advantage  by  reason  of  emigration,  Avhile  even  this 
advantage  is  passing  away  as  the  capabilities  of  the  South 
are  becoming  better  known. 

The  two  principal  facts  to  be  noted  are  these  : That  the 
average  cash  compensation  for  labor  at  the  South  is  not  more 
than  one-half  or  two-thirds  the  amount  paid  for  the  same 


THE  XEW  SOUTH. 


323 


at  the  North ; and  that  capital,  cognizant  of  this  fact,  and  of 
the  superior  resources,  facilities  and  capabilities  of  the  South, 
is  already  rushing  there  from  all  directions  as  the  most  prom- 
ising field  for  permanent  investment  in  active  production. 

Another  fact  should  be  comprehended  also  by  the  North- 
ern people,  and  that  is  the  wonderful  uprising  of  the  spirit 
of  thrift,  energy  and  industry  observable  all  over  the  South. 

The  traditional  Northern  conception  of  the  Southern  peo- 
ple is  not  true.  A new  generation  controls  that  land  of  sur- 
passing resources  and  natural  advantages.  The  war  destroyed 
the  old  form  of  patrician  and  semi-military  supremacy  which 
appealed  to  arms  to  prolong  its  power.  But  informed  as 
well  as  chastened  by  defeat,  the  survivors  of  the  struggle 
and  the  generation  now  upon  the  stage  are  full  of  life  and 
hope  and  enterprise,  and  are  eagerly  at  work  to  rebuild  their 
fortunes  and  restore  the  power  and  prestige  of  their  section 
of  our  common  country,  by  imitating  and,  if  possible,  sur- 
passing all  the  conditions  which  enabled  the  North  to  triumph 
in  the  mighty  conflict.  No  one  can  witness  this  display  of 
fortitude  in  adversity  and  of  aggressive  courage,  when  there 
was  room  for  despair,  without  admiration.  But  all  the  more 
do  these  facts  demand  the  attention  of  the  North. 

Their  contemplation  can  occasion  regret  only  in  the  breast 
of  a common  enemy  of  both  sections  of  the  country.  But 
they  point  with  unerring  certainty  to  a coming  competition 
between  the  producers  of  both  sections  for  the  home  market 
in  all  the  common  articles  of  consumption,  in  comparison  with 
which  that  between  American  labor  and  the  cheap  production 
of  the  Old  World  is  mere  fun.  The  protective  tariff,  or 
absolute  prohibition,  is  the  omnipresent  and  complete  defense 
of  American  labor  and  capital  whenever  threatened  with 
destruction  by  the  commodities  of  lower  civilizations  planted 
on  foreign  soils.  But  here  we  find  a cheaper  production  by 
a laborer  with  fewer  wants  than  our  own,  upon  which  no 
tariff  can  be  levied  and  against  which  no  prohibition  can  be 
raised.  On  the  contrary,  every  power  of  the  government, 
both  State  and  national,  is  or  may  be  invoked  for  its  develop- 
ment and  defense. 

In  this  emergency  what  shall  be  done  by  Northern  labor 
and  by  Northern  capital?  The  question  has  already  been 


324 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


.answered,  and  is  being  answered  by  the  owners  of  a great 
mass  of  the  surplus  which  those  hitherto  engaged  in  the 
diversified  industries  of  the  North,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
are  planting  in  the  South,  where  future  profits  may  replace 
the  inevitable  losses  upon  like  investments  in  the  .North, 
resulting  from  the  coming  competition. 

But  how  about  that  capital  fixed  in  plants  already  in 
operation  in  the  North,  and  which  cannot  be  transferred  to 
the  more  favorable  conditions  of  the  South,  and  whose  own- 
ers have  no  capital  to  invest  elsewhere?  More  serious  still 
is  this  problem  to  Northern  labor,  which  must,  as  a whole, 
live  or  die  where  it  is.  Capital  can  endure  delay,  may  be 
transferred  elsewhere,  or  suffer  absolute  destruction  even 
before  its  owner  is  reduced  to  the  level  of  necessity  which  is 
all  the  while  occupied  by  the  toiler  for  his  daily  bread.  The 
laborer  must  have  his  work  every  day,  for  he  is  hungry  three 
times  every  day.  So  are  his  wife  and  their  little  ones,  and 
clothing  and  shelter  are  a constant  want. 

Nothing  but  dense  stupidity  can  fail  to  see  that  the  man- 
ufacturing capital  and  cities  of  New  England,  and  the  North 
generally,  are  doomed  if  they  are  to  compete  with  the  cheap 
labor  of  the  South,  which  is  already  becoming  skillful  with 
the  hand,  although,  unfortunately,  not  fully  intelligent  in  the 
discharge  of  the  duties  and  in  the  exercise  of  the  powers  of 
citizenship.  This  condition  comes  only  with  education  in  the 
art  of  reading  and  writing,  and  in  the  other  common  branches 
of  knowledge,  thus  giving  capacity  to  receive  the  benefits  of 
that  great  instructor  and  preserver  of  the  life  of  republics  — 
the  press. 

To  one  who  reflects  upon  the  fact  that  political  unity  in 
a genuine  republic  depends  upon  the  universal  diffusion  of 
intelligence  among  the  people,  the  converse  is  also  apparent, 
that  so  far  as  unity  of  political  jurisdiction  extends,  if  it  is 
to  be  permanent,  there  must  be  established  throughout  that 
jurisdiction  a high  and  homogeneous  standard  of  intelligent 
thought  and  of  moral  action.  Resulting  from  these  con- 
ditions will  be  a uniformity  of  individual  power,  which  will 
enable  the  producer  in  every  path  of  industry  to  secure  fair 
pay  for  the  supply  of  his  wants. 

With  wise  reference  to  the  establishment  of  this  general 


NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


325 


condition  of  intelligence,  and  consequently  of  industrial 
independence  and  equality  throughout  the  country,  the 
national  education  hill  has  been  earnestly  advocated  by  those 
who  have  long  foreseen  what  is  now  so  patent,  that  politicians 
and  statesmen  and  patriots  are  sounding  the  alarm,  and 
pressing  home  upon  our  people  the  importance  of  universal 
intelligence  and  industrial  training  as  the  only  remedy. 

What  does  this  national  education  bill  propose  to  do? 
Xot  to  lessen  the  development  of  the  South  by  any  means, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  to  increase  it.  It  proposes  to  make 
Southern  labor  and  the  Southern  masses  more  intelligent ; to 
create  among  their  rapidly  multiplying  millions  of  both  races 
a vast  increase  of  the  wants  of  life,  which  must  be  supplied, 
so  that  Southern  labor  will  consume,  and  therefore  enjoy,  as 
well  as  produce,  and  thus  be  obliged  to  receive  in  order  that 
it  may  purchase  as  high  wages  as  Northern  labor,  putting  an 
end  to  the  competition  between  the  products  of  the  North 
and  South,  and  improving  both  sections  by  uplifting  the 
masses  of  the  people  all  over  the  county. 

Consumption  can  only  increase  by  increasing  the  capacity 
to  enjoy ; that  is,  by  adding  to  the  wants  of  life  by  higher 
civilization  and  providing  higher  wages  or  returns  for  labor 
wherewith  to  purchase  the  more  diversified  and  costly  supply 
of  the  necessaries  and  comforts  of  a higher  life.  Increased 
intelligence  constitutes  that  better  civilization,  and  gives  the 
power  which  enables  its  possessor  to  command  his  rightful 
share  in  the  production  of  his  labor  combined  with  the  capi- 
tal of  the  employer.  Tins  subject  of  the  general  diffusion 
of  intelligence  throughout  the  country  is  thus  seen  to  be  as 
important  to  the  North  as  to  the  South.  It  is  the  only  rem- 
edy for  our  threatened  Northern  industries,  except  a dissolu- 
tion of  the  government  and  the  establishment  of  new  political 
relations  which  will  enable  the  North  to  apply  the  principle 
of  protection  against  Southern  cheap  production,  the  same  as 
against  that  of  any  other  foreign  power  — or  a gradual  sink- 
ing of  the  pay  of  Northern  producers  to  the  lower  level  of 
average  Southern  compensation  for  toil. 

The  schools  — common  and  industrial  — ’with  a wise  and 
conservative  organization  of  labor,  are  the  agencies  upon 
which  we  must  rely.  I have  abiding  faith  that  these  great 


326 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


agencies,  already  in  action,  will  carry  on  their  beneficent 
work  until  the  perfect  day.  But  every  philanthropist  and 
patriot  should  contribute  his  utmost  to  stimulate  every  energy 
of  the  individual,  the  State,  and  the  nation,  to  lift  all  por- 
tions of  our  common  country  to  the  level  of  the  highest,  that 
nowhere  shall  any  recede  or  fall. 

The  measure  under  consideration  is  still  one  of  the  most 
important  before  the  country.  It  must  and  will  be  pending 
in  some  form  until  every  child  in  the  country  has  the  oppor- 
tunity to  obtain  a good  education  in  the  common  branches 
of  knowledge,  amon<r  which  is  that  of  the  nature  and  effects 
of  alcohol  upon  his  body  and  mind.  I therefore  insert  the 
following  article,  carefully  prepared  in  the  form  of  an  inter- 
view by  Prof.  Alexander  Hogg,  of  Fort  Worth,  Texas,  and 
published  in  the  Boston  Globe  of  August  29,  1887.  It  is 
especially  timely  as  a reply  to  those  who  misrepresent  the 
terms  and  provisions  of  the  bill  itself,  and  who  also  deny 
the  increased  or  even  the  continuing  necessity  of  help  to- 
day, as  compared  with  the  condition  of  the  country  in  1880. 

PROF.  ALEXANDER  HOGG. 

“Prof.  Hogg  is  superintendent  of  schools  at  Fort  Worth, 
and  a recognized  force  in  the  public  movements  of  the  whole 
State.  He  is  a Virginian  born  and  a life-long  member  and  worker 
in  the  Democratic  party.  ‘ In  the  cities  of  Texas,’  said  he,  ‘ the 
schools  are  as  good  as  they  are  anywhere.  The  branches  usually 
taught  in  the  public  schools  are  as  well  taught  in  Texas  as  they 
are  in  Boston.  Of  course  we  have  not  the  fine  school-buildings 
nor  the  bricks  and  mortar  that  you  have,  but  we  have  the  same 
people  with  the  same  brains  as  your  people,  both  as  teachers  and 
pupils.  The  trouble  is  in  the  country.  Only  some  17  per  cent,  of 
our  pupils  are  in  the  city  schools,  while  83  per  cent,  are  in  the 
sparsely  settled  country.  It  is  true,  we  have  a large  education 
fund,  but  most  of  it  is  in  lands  yet  unsold.  It  will  be,  when  con- 
verted into  money,  a very  large  fund,  but  what  must  the  children 
of  to-day  do? 

“ ‘ The  cities  tax  themselves  to  educate  the  children.  My  city 
began  in  1882  with  a tax  of  five  mills  to  the  dollar,  and  continues 
it.  Hence,  the  Fort  Worth  schools  have  grown  from  600  pupils 
and  17  teachers  to  a daily  average  attendance  of  1600  pupils  and 
43  teachers.  I repeat,  the  city  schools  do  well  because  they  are 
well  supplied  by  a very  heavy  tax.  And  one-fifth  of  the  entire 


AMERICAN  ILLITERACY. 


827 


fund  of  Fort  Worth  goes  to  the  colored  pupils.  We  have  not  in 
North  Texas,  however,  so  many  colored  people.  The  cotton  belt? 
or  south-east,  is  the  portion  of  the  State  occupied  by  the  blacks. 
But,  whether  in  North  or  South  Texas,  the  fund  is  distributed 
strictly  according  to  the  ratio  of  the  colored  to  the  white  pupils. 
Fort  Worth  pays  the  same  to  the  teachers  of  the  colored  pupils  as 
she  does  to  the  teachers  of  the  white.  The  principal  and  assist- 
ants of  the  colored  schools  are  all  colored.  The  principal  is  a 
native  Texan  and  a well  educated  man.  We  also  pay  the  women 
the  same  salary  paid  the  men  for  the  same  service,  whether  as 
principals  or  assistants. 

‘“The  nation  must  help  us  develop  this  fair  and  well  founded 
system.  I know  our  senators  have  voted  against  the  proposition, 
hut  wherever  our  people  understand  the  Blair  Federal  Aid  Bill 
they  are  for  it,  and  if  it  could  be  discussed  before  the  people  gen- 
erally they  would  be  unanimous  in  its  support.  Persons  engaged 
in  educational  matters  — those  acquainted  with  the  bill  and  the 
needs  of  the  schools  — favor  it.  The  superintendents  of  the  cities 
and  the  public-school  teachers  all  over  the  State,  with  the  fewest 
exceptions,  favor  it. 

“ ‘ If  universal  suffrage  is  based  upon  universal  education,  upon 
intelligence,  upon  the  ability  of  the  voter  to  read  the  name  of  his 
choice  upon  the  selected  ballot,  there  is  a great,  crying  necessity 
for  national  relief.  It  must  be  given  at  once.  Illiteracy  is  in- 
creasing at  a fearful  rate,  even  among  the  white  citizens  of  Texas. 
In  1870  there  were  only  17,505  illiterate  white  voters,  but  in 
1880  there  were  33,085.  There  you  have  the  startling  increase  of 
illiteracy  among  the  white  voting  Texans  of  90  per  cent.  The 
colored  illiterates  numbered  47,235  voters  in  1870  and  56,699  in 
1880,  an  increase  of  26  per  cent. 

“ ‘ But  I am  not  willing  to  pass  this  large  increase  in  illiterate 
voters  in  Texas  without  explaining  how  it  is  that  my  State  should 
have  gained  in  this  downward  movement  so  rapidly.  Some  of 
these  voters  are  from  old  Virginia,  some  from  the  Carolinas,  from 
Georgia,  and  not  a few  from  Alabama,  Mississippi  and  Louisiana. 
This  increase  in  illiteracy  in  the  voting  population  has  not  been 
confined  alone  to  the  States  mentioned.  The  fact  is  that  with 
the  exception  of  little  Delaware  the  increase  in  illiterate  voters  in 
the  South  from  1870  to  1880  amounted  to  187,671.  In  this 
“ downward  ” race  it  is  a little  singular  that  the  white  and  col- 
ored have  kept  so  close  together,  but  it  shows  that  the  education 
needed  is  not  wholly  for  “ the  brother  in  black.” 

“ ‘ It  may  be  justly  asked  why  should  there  be  such  an  increase 
in  the  white  illiteracy?  It  is  simply  because  these  voters  are  the 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


328 

sons  of  the  fathers  who  laid  down  their  lives,  sacrificed  their  all, 
in  the  unhappy  struggle  for  what  they  believed  to  be  right. 
Their  children,  daughtei's  as  well  as  sons,  were  without  school 
facilities.  They  really  had  no  time  to  go  to  school,  but,  with 
their  mothers  at  home,  were  struggling  for  something  to  eat. 

The  census  of  1880  shows  that  there  are  in  Kentucky,  above 
the  age  of  21,  of  white  women  who  can  not  write  22.8  per  cent., 
and  in  North  Carolina  there  are  33.4  per  cent,  of  white  women 
who  can  not  write.  If  in  the  death  of  these  fathers  and  mothers 
illiteracy  should  cease,  we  should  have  hope  for  the  republic;  hut 
upon  investigation  it  will  be  found  that  illiteracy  is  not  only  in- 
creasing but  that  it  is  an  inheritance  that  multiplies  with  each 
succeeding  year. 

“ ‘Under  the  provisions  of  the  Blair  bill,  were  it  to  become  a law, 
Connecticut,  Maine,  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire,  New  Jersey, 
New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Rhode  Island  and  Vermont,  with  a 
population  of  12,724,322,  would  receive  83,099,990,  or  24  cents 
per  capita.  Texas,  with  a population  by  the  same  census  of  only 
1,591,749,  could  receive  82.44  per  capita,  or  ten  times  as  much  as 
these  great  States.  That  shows  our  disadvantage. 

“‘Little  Alabama  would  receive  17  times  as  much  as  those 
States.  California,  Colorado,  Illinois,  Iowa,  Indiana,  Kansas, 
Michigan,  Minnesota,  Missouri,  Nebraska,  Ohio,  Wisconsin  and 
Oregon,  with  a population  of  18,462,723,  would  receive  84,486,860, 
or  24  cents  per  capita.  Georgia,  with  a population  of  1,542,180, 
would  receive  86,042,150,  or  nearly  84  per  capita,  nearly  seventeen 
times  as  much  as  all  these  great  States. 

“ ‘ Why  is  this  ? Simply  because  Georgia  has  seventeen  times 
as  much  illiteracy  as  all  this  vast  territory  teeming  with  millions 
of  happy  people  who  received  their  Federal  aid  in  grants  of  land 
from  Virginia  and  the  general  government  for  school  purposes. 
Need  more  be  said  upon  the  “ necessity  ” of  this  aid  ? 

“ ‘ Our  Southern  States  are  positively  doing  all  they  can,  and 
are  doing  more  proportionately  than  the  favored  States  of  the 
North,  more  according  to  their  means  than  the  foremost  States  in 
this  Union. 

“ ‘For  instance,  North  Carolina  paid  school  taxes  in  1880  upon 
8160,000,000  taxable  property.  She  realized  8400,000,  81  to 
every  8400.  Massachusetts  paid  the  same  year  upon  81,600,000,- 
000,  and  the  school  tax  amounted  to  84,000,000,  or  81  to  every 
8400  of  taxable  property.  That  is,  North  Carolina  pays  for 
school  purposes  as  much  ad  valorem  as  Massachusetts,  with  this 
terrible  drawback  — her  population  being  300,000  more  than  that 
of  Massachusetts,  and  is  scattered  over  seven  times  the  territory 


Mrs.  Matilda  B.  Carse, 

President  Woman's  Temperance  Publication  Association , Chicago. 


AMERICAN  ILLITERACY. 


329 


of  Massachusetts.  Hence,  we  find  the  schools  in  North  Carolina 
are  kept  open  only  about  three  months  each  year,  while  in  New 
England  they  are  kept  closed  less  than  three  months. 

“ ‘Now  take  two  American  cities:  The  assessed  values  of  the 
city  of  Charleston  in  1860  were  845,000,000;  in  18S0,  $21,000,000, 
a reduction  of  more  than  half,  with  the  obligation  to  educate 
double  the  number  of  children.  Taxation  in  the  city  of  Charles- 
ton in  1880  was  34-  mills,  State,  county  and  city,  in  all  amount- 
ing to  $61,000  only  for  school  purposes.  Boston  gives  a total  of 
2£  mills  for  all  her  school  enterprises,  Charleston  solely  for  primary 
instruction.  That  is,  Chaileston  gives  for  her  schools  of  lowest 
grades  nearly  Half  as  much  again  as  Boston.  Add  to  this  burden 
the  still  greater,  viz.,  Charleston  pays  a total  tax  of  2^  cents,  while 
that  of  Boston  is  only  1^.  Education  is  not  a matter  of  sen- 
timent. 

“ ‘The  State  of  New  York  is  worth  in  taxable  property  as  much 
as  all  the  Southern  States.  These  expended  on  their  schools  in 
1881  $13,359,784;  in  1881  New  York  expended  $9,936,662. 
The  total  taxable  property  in  New  York  in  1880  was  $2,651,940,- 
000;  the  Southern  States,  omitting  Missouri,  $2,370,923,269,  or 
New  York  is  richer  than  the  13  Southern  States  grouped  in  the 
census  tables  of  1880. 

“‘Now,  to  the  practical  question:  Can  the  Southern  States, 
with  less  than  half  the  resources  of  1860,  educate  double  the  num- 
ber of  children  then  knocking  at  the  door? 

“‘If  they  cannot,  tvho  should?  I answer,  the  general  govern- 
ment. And  for  this  position  I appeal  to  the  highest  ethical 
authority,  the  duty  to  do  it.  It  is  a well  established  principle  in 
ethics  that  all  rights  are  resolvable  into  duties.  The  right  of 
citizenship  carries  with  it  the  duty  of  citizenship.  If  the  State 
exercises  a right,  she  assumes  a reciprocal  duty.  The  right,  there- 
fore conferred  by  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  amendments  to  the 
Constitution  in  enfranchising  over  6,000,000  of  negroes,  the  high- 
est and  most  responsible  political  privilege,  demands  of  the  United 
States  — the  power  conferring  this  right  — the  preparation  of 
these  people  to  exercise  this  franchise.  Upon  this  law  of  ethical 
philosophy,  and  the  effect  of  the  franchise  already  conferred,  is 
based  the  duty  of  the  government  to  make,  and  at  once,  full  and 
ample  preparation  for  the  education  not  only  of  the  voter  the 
colored  — but  for  all  the  enfranchised  citizens  of  this  free  repub- 
lic, regardless  of  color  or  previous  condition. 

“‘The  results  of  the  war,  enfranchising  the  colored  man,  de- 
stroyed at  the  same  time  the  means  of.  educating  the  now  illiterate 
white  voter. 


330 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


‘“After  the  terrible  revolution  of  1781,  the  country,  the  whole 
country,  was  without  money,  and  Virginia  ceded  “ the  great  North- 
west ” to  the  general  government  to  raise  revenues  to  relieve 
the  country  of  the  disasters  of  even  a successful  war.  This  terri- 
tory, as  then  divided  up,  embraces  the  great  States  of  Ohio,  Illi- 
nois, and  others  rich  in  taxable  values,  and  boasting  of  the  finest 
school  systems  of  our  country,  the  direct  results  of  which  have 
been  known  as  “ the  sixteen  section  ” fund.  That  is  for  the  com- 
mon schools  of  these  rich  and  powerful  States,  one  thirty-sixth 
part  of  the  domain  wms  set  apart  for  the  education  of  all  the 
children  of  these  States.  Should  not  Virginia,  “the  mother  of 
States,”  demand  from  these  daughters  something  in  her  old  age 
to  free  her  and  hers  from  the  dire  scourge  of  illiteracy? 

“‘Again,  of  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands,  8S8,000,000,  the 
Northern  and  Western  States  have  received  880,000,000,  or  ten 
times  as  much  as  the  South.  In  the  distribution  of  land  for  the 
agricultural  colleges,  the  State  of  New  York  received  over  five 
times  as  much  as  Texas  did,  and  realized  twice  as  much  per  acre. 
Texas  received  87  cents  only  per  acre,  California  85,  and  Minne- 
sota 85.62  per  acre. 

“ ‘ The  Blair  bill  is  constitutional.  “ To  provide  not  only  for  the 
general  welfare,”  but  to  “ secure  the  blessings  of  liberty  to  our- 
selves and  to  our  posterity.”  Can  liberty  be  preserved  when  the 
ballot  is  in  the  hands  of  a constantly  increasing  illiterate  majority? 
If  universal  suffrage  must  continue,  can  we  expect  “ the  blessings 
of  liberty”  to  be  preserved  by  universal  ignorance?  Universal 
suffrage  must  rest  upon  universal  education,  or  Thomas  Jefferson’s 
republic  is  a failure. 

“ ‘For  this  distribution  of  money  they  tell  us  there  is  no  prece- 
dent. But  a jwecedent  is  not  wanting.  These  expounders  of  our 
Constitution  and  readers  of  our  country’s  history  have  .forgotten 
the  distribution  of  the  surplus  revenue  in  1836. 

“‘All  the  States  receiving  their  quota  of  this  surplus  of  1836 
devoted  it  to  educational  purposes,  and  yet  we  hear  there  is  no 
precedent  for  any  such  aid  as  the  Blair  bill  proposes. 

“ ‘ Still  others  talk  about  the  “ centralization  ” of  the  govern- 
ment extending  so  far  as  “ to  the  selection  of  teachers  and  text- 
books.” “ To  aid  in  the  establishment  and  temporary  support  of 
common  schools”  is  the  caption  of  the  Blair  bill. 

“ ‘ It  is  not  to  establish  any  new  system  at  all,  nor  to  control  in 
any  shape  the  existing  systems. 

“ ‘ Then,  we  hear  a great  deal  about  the  violence  this  bill  would 
do  to  Jeffersonian  Democracy;  bu£  Jefferson  was  for  it,  as  his 
published  writings  will  clearly  prove. 


STATESMEN  ON  THE  EDUCATION  BILL. 


331 


“‘Thirty-six  of  our  United  States  senators,  the  chief  justice  of 
the  Supreme  Court  and  the  attorney-general  all  say  that  the  pow- 
ers which  Congress  already  possesses  are  sufficient  for  this  appro- 
priation. 

“ ‘It  is  often  said  that  the  opposition  conies  from  the  South  and 
the  Democratic  party.  If  your  people  do  not  know  who  of  the 
South  favor  this  measure,  ask  South  Carolinians  who  Wade 
Hampton  is;  ask  North  Carolinians  who  Matt  Ransom  and  Zebu- 
Ion  Vance  are;  ask  Georgians  who  Alfred  Colquitt  and  Joe  Brown 
are ; Mississippians  who  George  and  Walthall  (and  Lamar,  who 
voted  for  its  passage  while  a senator),  are ; ask  Alabamians  who 
Janies  L.  Pugh  is ; ask  Louisiana  and  Florida  and  Arkansas  of 
what  politics  their  senators  are. 

“‘This  is  a national  question.  It  is  an  effort  of  patriotism  to 
save  our  common  country. 

“ ‘If  universal  suffrage  must  continue,  universal  education  must 
be  provided,  and  by  a power  able  to  do  it — the  general  govern- 
ment.’ ” 

I deem  the  Education  Bill  the  most  important  temperance 
measure  that  can  be  proposed,  not  even  excepting  the  Na- 
tional Prohibitory  Amendment,  because  if  it  becomes  a law 
the  amendment  will  follow  in  due  time  with  absolute  certainty  ; 
and  only  increased  intelligence  among  the  masses  of  the  peo- 
ple  gives  any  hope  of  fundamental  temperance  reform. 

For  this  reason,  I will  now  quote  briefly  from  the  speeches 
■of  senators  in  its  advocacy. 

Senatov  Edmunds,  Vermont:  “ We  come,  then,  to  the  ques- 
tion as  to  what  we  ought  to  do.  We  do  find,  and  all  agree  as 
a fact,  that  in  a great  many  of  the  States  of  this  Union  there  is  an 
undue  and  excessive  proportion  of  people  who  are  ignorant,  and 
of  children  who  are  ignorant,  and  that  in  those  States  it  appears 
to  be  a fact  that  at  this  present  time  there  are  not  sufficient  re- 
sources available  to  provide  from  the  taxable  property  of  the 
inhabitants  of  those  States  for  this  emergency.  It  is  therefore, 
as  it  seems  to  me,  a case  in  which  the  common  treasure  of  all 
the  people  may  be  fairly  devoted  in  aid  of  this  great  and  neces- 
sary object  for  the  preservation  of  real  republican  government.” 

Senator  Evakts,  New  York:  “Now,  then,  in  a word,  Mr. 
President,  I confront  this  immense,  this  dangerous,  this  growing, 
this  threatening  mass  of  ignorance.  I find  a deliberate,  a con- 
certed, a thoughtful,  a valuable  measure.  I am  heartily  in  favor 
of  the  passage  of  this  bill.” 


332 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


Senator  Sherman,  Ohio:  “I  think  the  safety  of  the  national 
government  demands  that  we  should  remove  this  dark  cloud  of 
ignorance  that  rests  upon  a portion  of  the  people  of  the  States. 
Without  reproaches  to  any  section,  I am  willing,  as  one  of  the 

senators  of  Ohio, to  vote  from  the  national  treasury  a large 

sum  of  money  this  year,  and  from  time  to  time,  so  long  as  the 
necessity  exists,  a liberal  sum  of  money  to  aid  in  the  education  of 
the  illiterate  children  of  the  Southern  and  Northern  States.” 

Senator  Lamar  ( 'now  Secretary  of  the  Interior ),  Mississippi r 
“ I have  watched  it  Avith  deep  interest  and  intense  solicitude. 
In  my  opinion,  it  is  the  first  step  and  the  most  important  step  this 
government  has  ever  taken  in  the  direction  of  the  solution  of  Avhat 
is  called  the  race  problem  ; and  I believe  it  will  tell  more  power- 
fully and  decisively  upon  the  future  destinies  of  the  colored  race 
than  any  measure  or  ordinance  that  has  yet  been  adopted  in  ref- 
erence to  it  — more  decisively  than  either  the  thirteenth,  fourteenth 
or  fifteenth  amendments,  unless  it  is  to  be  considered,  as  I do 
consider  it,  the  logical  sequence  and  the  practical  continuance- 
of  those  amendments.  I think  that  this  measure  is  fraught  with 
almost  unspeakable  benefits  to  the  entire  population  of  the  South, 
white  and  black.  It  will  exrcite  a new  interest  among  our  people  ~T 
it  will  stimulate  both  State  and  local  communities  to  more  ener- 
getic exertions  and  greater  sacrifices,  because  it  will  encourage 
them  in  their  hopes  in  grappling  and  struggling  with  a task 
before  whose  vast  proportions  they  have  stood  appalled  in  the 
consciousness  of  the  inadequacy  of  their  own  resources  to  meet  it.” 

Senator  Garland,  Arkansas  ( now  Attorney-  General)  : “ This- 
bill  might  very  aptly  be  styled  a bill  to  extirpate  illiteracy  in  the 
United  States.  For  one,  I did  not  require  any  amendment  to  the 
old  Constitution  to  enable  me  to  find  the  poiver  of  Congress  to 

do  this In  conclusion,  I implore  both  sides,  and  all  sides, 

to  come  together  and  vote  for  this  bill,  and  be  a unit  upon  it,  as- 
we  haAre  been  talking  about  it  and  promising  it  for  years  and 
years  past.” 

Senator  Vooriiees,  Indiana:  “No  discussion  in  this  body, 
since  the  Avar,  has  been  of  greater  importance,  in  my  judgment, 
or  Avill  be  more  fruitful  or  far-reaching  in  beneficial  results,  than 
the  one  now  draAving  to  a close.  The  measure  itself  now  before 
the  Senate  has  never  been  surpassed  in  the  elevation  and  beneAro- 
lence  of  its  spirit,  nor  in  the  magnitude  and  value  of  its  immedi- 
ate and  ultimate  purposes.” 

Senator  Hoar,  Massachusetts : “I  profess  to  be  the  friend  of 
this  bill.  I undertake  to  say  that  the  legislature  of  this  nation 
has  a right  to  saA'e  the  life  of  this  nation  against  Avhatever 


STATESMEN  ON  THE  EDUCATION  BILL. 


333 


•danger.  I think  it  is  a better  thing  to  try  the  experiment  whether 
by  educating  a black  man  lie  can  be  made  tit  for  American  citi- 
zenship, than,  without  trying  that  experiment,  to  cheat  him  out  of 
his  vote.” 

Senator  Pugii,  Alabama:  “I  do  not  believe  that  any  meas- 
ure approaching  this  in  importance  lias  been  before  the  Senate,  or 
is  likely  to  be  before  the  Senate  this  session  with  as  much  popular 
approval  of  its  passage.  My  service  on  the  Committee  on  Educa- 
tion and  Labor  for  five  months  during  the  last  summer  and  fall 
enabled  me  to  learn  something  of  the  public  necessity.  Every 
witness  examined  by  the  committee  upon  the  condition  and  needs 
■of  the  public  schools  in  the  Southern  States  urged  federal  aid  to 
these  States,  to  enable  them  to  extend  the  benefits  of  a common- 
school  education  to  their  illiterate  children.” 

Senator  Vance,  North  Carolina:  “I  feel  that  it  is  my  duty 
to  vote  for  this  bill,  and  I shall  do  so.” 

Senator  Brown,  Georgia:  “As  without  education  the  voter, 
without  giving  him  the  knowledge  which  Gen.  Washington 

speaks  of  as  indispensable, he  cannot  be  a citizen,  at  least 

a useful  citizen.  He  cannot  be  a voter  - — a safe,  intelligent  voter. 

I am,  therefore,  very  clearly  of  the  opinion  that  there 

is  no  constitutional  difficulty  in  the  wav  of  the  passage  of  this 
bill.” 

Senator  Jonas,  Louisiana:  “I  accept  this  bill  in  behalf  of 
the  people  whom  I in  part  represent,  as  a great  benefaction,  as  a 
great  assistance  to  a people  overburdened  by  a charge  laid  upon 
them  which  they  are  unable  to  meet,  but  which  they  have  every 
disposition  to  carry  out  to  the  best  of  their  ability.” 

Senator  Cullom,  Illinois:  “There  is  no  enemy  of  the  republic 
who  does  not  make  the  public-school  system  of  this  country  the 
point  of  his  attack,  either  open  or  insidious,  as  the  case  may  be ; 
and  there  is  no  friend  of  the  republic  who  should  not  do  all  that 
may  be  in  his  power  to  defend  and  strengthen  it.” 

Senator  George,  Mississippi : “Mr.  President,  I feel  very 
deeply  and  very  profoundly  the  gravity  and  importance  of  the 
measure  now  before  the  Senate.  I know  of  no  measure  likely  to 
engage  the  attention  of  Congress  which  has  so  much  of  benefit  to 
the  people  whom  I,  in  part,  represent  on  this  floor,  and  also 
to  the  people  of  the  United  States.” 

Senator  Williams,  Kentucky : “ Mr.  President,  this  is  a prop- 
osition so  manifestly  humane  and  just  that  it  is  difficult  for  me  to 
see  how  anv  one  can  withhold  his  support  from  it.” 

Senator  Gibson,  Louisiana:  “In  my  opinion,  reflecting  men 
in  all  parts  of  the  country have  formed  the  deliberate 


334 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


judgment  that  the  education  of  the  people,  the  enlightenment  of 
the  suffrage,  the  elevation  of  the  popular  character  and  the  popu- 
lar conscience,  the  awakening  of  a loftier  and  healthier  sentiment 
of  national  patriotism,  is  absolutely  indispensable  to  the  preserva- 
tion of  constitutional  liberty.” 

Senator  Ransom,  North  Carolina : “ I will  presume  to  say 
that  I do  not  think  it  j^ossible  that  any  member  of  the  Senate 
can  be  more  anxious  for  the  passage  of  this  bill  than  I am.” 

Senator  Hampton,  South  Carolina : “ Actuated  by  these 
motives,  I feel  bound,  as  a citizen,  as  a Senator,  as  a patriot,  to 
support  the  bill  under  consideration.” 

Senator  Logan,  Illinois:  “I  have  been  in  favor  of  education 
ever  since  I have  been  old  enough  to  make  the  matter  a study.  I 
have  always  been  in  favor  of  common  schools  and  schools  of  a 
high  grade,  and  I am  to-day.” 

Senator  Call,  Florida  : “ Mr.  President,  the  measure  is  far 
above  all  ideas  having  their  origin  in  partisan  bitterness  and  sec- 
tional prejudice.  I undertake  to  say,  Mr.  President,  that 
you  can  not  appropriate  too  much  money  in  this  country  to  edu- 
cation.” 

Senator  Jones,  Florida : “ I think  there  is  ample  authority 
in  the  Constitution  for  the  passage  of  this  bill.” 

Senator  Teller,  Colorado : “ Long  ago,  on  this  floor  and 
elsewhere,  I have  committed  myself  unequivocally,  unhesitatingly, 
unrestrictedly  to  the  power  of  the  general  government  to  con- 
tribute out  of  its  great  abundance  to  the  support  of  public  schools 
anywhere  within  its  jurisdiction.” 

Senator  Jackson,  Tennessee:  “Mr.  President,  this  measure 
may  fail,  but  I esteem  it  a great  personal  privilege,  as  well  as  a 
high  patriotic  duty,  to  give  it  my  humble  but  cordial  support.” 

Senator  Mahone,  Virginia : “ Mr.  President,  I could  not  be 
more  earnestly  in  favor  of  the  measure  which  this  bill  proposes  to 
inaugurate  than  I have  been  and  am.” 

Senator  Riddleberger,  Virginia : “ I am  not  ashamed  to  say 
here,  on  behalf  of  as  good  a people  as  inhabit  the  State  of  Texas 
or  of  Kansas,  that  we  do  want  it;  we  ask  for  it;  and  we  think 
that  it  is  due  to  us  to  have  it.” 

Senator  Dolpii,  Oregon  : “ A large  amount  of  illiteracy  in  any 
government  is  a menace  to  it.  The  remedy  for  such  an  evil  is  to 
educate.” 

Senator  Miller,  New  Vork : “ I am  willing  to  vote  enough 
of  the  public  money  to  make  such  a beginning  in  this  matter  that 
the  Southern  States  shall  be  so  lifted  out  of  their  darkness  and 
illiteracy  that  when  this  $77,000,000  shall  have  been  distributed. 


STATESMEN  ON  THE  EDUCATION  BILL. 


335 


such  a public  spirit  will  have  been  created  in  the  South  that  from 
that  time  on  they  will  be  able  to  go  on  with  their  common-school 
system  perfected,  and  carry  it  to  complete  perfection,  as  we  have 
done  at  the  North.” 

Senator  Harrison,  Indiana:  “Holding  these  views,  Mr. 
President,  I am  sincerely  solicitous  that  federal  aid  should  be 
extended  to  the  States  in  such  a way  that  the  kindly  impulses  of 
that  increasing  body  of  Southern  men  who  show  a kindly  dispo- 
sition toward  the  elevation  of  the  colored  man  shall  be  recognized 
and  encouraged.” 

Senator  Blair,  New  Hampshire : “I  also  embrace  this  fitting 
opportunity  to  say  that  I fully  believe  that  the  States  will  every- 
where disburse  the  moneys  received  under  this  bill  if  it  becomes 
a law  in  good  faith  and  with  as  sacred  regard  to  the  demands 
of  prudence  and  honor  in  one  section  of  the  country  as  in  the 
other.  For  a year  or  two  there  may  be  some  possible  confusion 
in  setting  up  and  testing  machinery,  but  in  the  existing  condition 
of  the  public  mind  the  better  way  is  to  give  outright  to  the  States 
and  hold  them,  as  they  desire  to  be  held,  to  an  undivided  respon- 
sibility, to  be  redeemed  upon  their  honor.  "We  shall  not  trust  to 
that  honor  in  vain.  Mr.  President,  the  absolute  necessities  of 
this  nation  and  of  these  States,  of  their  darkened  present  and  of 
their  portentous  future,  demand  the  appropriation  of  jrnblic 
money  from  a full  treasury  to  aid  in  the  establishment  and 
support  of  common  schools  throughout  the  country.  Sir,  I 
appeal  to  the  facts,  and  entreat  the  Senate  to  pass  this  bill.” 


The  entire  expenditure  of  the  whole  country  for  the  sup- 
port of  common  schools  is  now  about  eighty-five  million 
dollars,  possibly  ninety  million  dollars,  yearly  ; — less  than 
one-tenth  the  direct  cost  of  intoxicating  beverages,  while  of 
this  amount  one-third  of  the  school  population  residing  in 
the  Southern  States  received  but  one-sixth.  One-third  at 
least  of  these  children  of  the  South  are  never  in  any  school, 
because  there  is  none  ; and  the  average  length  of  the  schools 
which  do  exist  is  less  than  three  months  during  the  year. 
The  Northern  States  do  not  expend  more  than  one-half  the 
money  really  required  to  give  all  their  own  children  the 
needed  education  in  the  common  branches  of  knowledge.  I 
believe  that  school  expenditure  should  be  doubled  at  the 
North,  and  at  least  quadrupled  in  the  South.  The  aid  of 
the  nation  can  be  denied,  as  it  has  been  hitherto  ; but  it  is 


336 


TIIE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


difficult  to  comprehend  the  blindness  of  those  who  can  thus 
willfully  wrong  posterity,  and  endanger  the  foundations  of 
the  republic  itself. 

The  necessity  does  not  depend  upon  the  surplus  in  the 
treasury.  If  there  were  no  surplus,  one  should  be  created  by 
direct  taxation  if  need  be  to  remove  this  sweat  danger  to  our 
free  institutions.  The  ostrich  is  just  as  good  and  even  a bet- 
ter mark  for  the  hunter  as  though  he  did  not  bury  his  head  in 
the  sand.  To  this  it  may  be  added  that  wounds  in  the  head 
are  generally  considered  more  honorable  than  those  most 
likely  to  be  received  by  cowards  and  fools.  The  Women’s 
Christian  Temperance  Union  has  repeatedly  endorsed  the 
measure  and  has  adopted  it  as  one  of  the  great  means  of 
promoting  the  temperance  reform.  So  also  have  all  the 
great  labor  organizations  of  the  countiy  united  in  its  sup- 
port. Of  what  use  are  laws  providing  for  temperance 
instruction  in  the  common  schools,  if  there  be  no  common 
schools?  As  slavery  was  the  common  sin,  so  ignorance  is 
the  common  curse  of  the  whole  country,  and  justice  requires 
that  what  is  for  the  common  good  shall  be  paid  for  from  the 
common  purse.  Certainly  this  should  be  done  until  each 
locality  is  able  to  bear  its  share  of  the  burden  alone.  I 
close  the  discussions  of  this  chapter,  omitting  much  that 
should  be  said,  and  even  important  topics,  for  the  want  of 
space.  Education  and  law  are  the  great  remedies.  Vol- 
umes exist  upon  each,  and  I feel  how  little  of  real  value  I 
can  add  to  the  common  stock  of  knowledge  already  avail- 
able. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


PERSONAL  LIBERTY”  AND  PUBLIC  LAW 


The  Right  to  Fight  the  Rum  Traffic  by  Legislation  — The  Objection 
urged  against  Prohibition  — The  Manufacture  and  Sale  of  Liquors  in 
the  Light  of  “an  Inalienable  Right”  — “Sumptuary  Laws”  Im- 
properly  Defined  by  Hon.  Geo.  G.  Vestas  “Prohibitory  Legislation” 
— The  Right  to  Oppose  the  Rum  Traffic  Argued  — No  “Personal 
Liberty”  to  Make  or  Sell  Agencies  to  Produce  Crime  and  Murder  — 
The  Liquor  Traffic  Considered  as  a “Business”  — Fundamental  Prop- 
ositions as  to  Legislation  on  the  Liquor  Traffic. 


E have  now,  with  some  labor,  endeavored  to  ascertain 


and  illustrate  the  nature  of  alcohol,  the  effect  which 


its  use  has  upon  the  individual  man,  the  family,  the  local 
community,  the  nation,  all  nations  — society  at  large.  It 
must  be  and  it  is  admitted  that  alcohol,  as  a factor  in  human 
affairs,  is  a tremendous  curse,  and  especially  to  civilized  na- 
tions. It  confronts  us  everywhere  with  its  snaky  eye  and 
poison  tooth,  and  everywhere  it  strikes.  What  strange  fas- 
cination has  this  foul  thing,  over  Christian  and  heathen  alike, 
that  it  should  be  thus  allowed  the  liberty  of  the  world?  Yet 
it  is  to-day  an  open  question,  even  a great  political  issue, 
whether  there  should  be  laws  enacted  having  for  their  spe- 
cific object  the  destruction  of  the  trade  in  drinks  which 
intoxicate.  We  are  told  that  such  laws  are  violations  of 
personal  liberty;  of  the  freedom  for  which  our  fathers 
fought  and  our  flag  now  waves.  That  "sumptuary  laws,” 
as  the  term  is  used  in  the  political  nomenclature  of  the  day, 
mean  prohibitory  legislation  — or,  as  Hon.  George  G.  Vest 
expressed  the  idea  in  an  able  speech  delivered  at  Boonville, 
Mo.,  September  29,  1882,  largely  circulated  as  a political 
document : 

" When  the  Cincinnati  platform  of  the  Democratic  party, 
of  which  convention  I was  a member,  declared  against  all 
sumptuary  laws,  that  convention  had  reference  to  prohibi- 
tory legislation What  do  }'ou  understand  to  be 


22 


338 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


the  meaning  of  sumptuary?  You  understand  and  I under- 
stand that  it  means  simply  and  solely  prohibitory  legislation, 
which  has  been  an  issue  before  the  American  people  more  or 
less  since  1851,  when  the  first  law  was  enacted,  in  the  State 
of  Maine.” 

Before  proceeding,  I must  call  attention  to  the  persistent 
error  of  those  who  confound  laws  prohibitory  of  the  liquor 
traffic  with  what  are  known  as  " sumptuary  laws.”  Sump- 
tuary laws  interfere  with  the  personal  conduct  of  the  indi- 
vidual in  some  matter  in  which  society  is  not  really  con- 
cerned ; as  for  instance  in  regard  to  what  he  shall  eat,  drink 
or  wear.  But  no  law  has  ever  yet  been  proposed,  to  my 
knowledge,  and  certainly  none  is  now  advocated  by  any  one, 
which  would  prohibit  the  personal  use  of  intoxicating  liquor 
when  that  use  or  its  consequences  do  not  injure  or  endanger 
the  rights  of  others.  Laws  in  prohibition  of  the  manu- 
facture and  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks  are  public  in  their 
nature  and  are  enacted  for  the  protection  of  societ}'  against 
the  great  evils  of  the  traffic  in  strong  drink,  and  are  no 
more  " sumptuary  ” than  the  laws  against  robbery  or  murder. 
I do  not  concede  that  society  may  not  go  further  than  it  has 
yet  gone,  and  prohibit  the  personal  use  of  alcohol  or  any 
other  poison,  or  of  any  substance  which  injures  the  bodies 
and  souls  of  its  members,  and  thus  unfits  the  man  for  the 
performance  of  the  duties  which  he  owes  to  society  at  large. 
I only  desire  now  to  point  out  the  injustice  and  absurdity  of 
confounding  the  prohibitory  laws  of  our  time,  which  relate 
only  to  the  manufacture  and  sale  for  use  by  others,  with 
"sumptuary  laws,”  which  relate  only  to  the  consumer  and  to 
the  manner  in  which  he  shall  apply  food,  drink,  or  raiment, 
or  shelter  to  his  private  use.  There  is  no  more  ridiculous 
instance  of  confused  thought  and  expression  in  the  whole 
nomenclature  of  absurdity.  The  eagerness  of  the  advocates 
of  the  liquor  traffic  to  transfer  to  the  temperance  cause  all 
the  opprobrium  possible,  'whether  deserved  or  not,  must 
be  credited  with  this  gross  perversion  of  phraseology,  since 
any  other  explanation  is  inconsistent  with  the  possession  of 
ordinary  intelligence  on  their  part. 

But  to  proceed. 

It  must  also  be  conceded  by  any  logical  mind  that  if  no  law 


Mrs.  L.  M.  /V.  Stevens , 

President  TV.  C.  T.  of  Maine. 


AGITATION  AND  LAW. 


339 


which  prohibits  the  traffic  should  be  enacted,  because  it  is  an 
invasion  of  the  inalienable  right  of  personal  liberty,  then 
laws  tor  the  restraint  or  regulation  of  the  traffic,  so  far  as 
they  do  restrain  and  regulate,  are  invasions  of  the  same  right, 
and  are  subject  to  the  same  objection.  There  may  be  taxa- 
tion for  the  purpose  of  revenue,  for  the  object  of  taxation  is 
the  public  good,  which  includes  individual  good,  and  there- 
fore in  promotion  of  the  right  of  personal  liberty  ; — and  all 
occupations  and  property  are  subject  to  taxation  upon  this 
principle:  — but  when  this  end  is  obtained,  the  right  to  tax 
ceases  and  sumptuary  or  prohibitory  legislation,  being  never 
for  the  purpose  of  raising  money  for  the  State  but  rather  to 
restrain  and  destroy  the  traffic  itself,  which  is  destruction 
alike  of  the  revenue  and  of  the  sources  of  revenue,  whether 
it  be  absolute  or  only  partial,  is  pro  tcinto  a violation  of  con- 
stitutional personal  right*  The  principle,  then,  is  that  there 
should  be  no  law  to  prohibit  or  fetter  the  existence  of  the 
traffic  in  intoxicating  beverages,  because  men  have  a personal 
right  to  make,  sell  and  use  them,  just  as  the}7  make,  sell  and 
use  any  beneficial  commodity. 

All  political  discussion  is  of  the  "moral  suasion”  char- 
acter. Its  object  is  to  convince  the  judgment  and  per- 
suade to  action,  for  the  enactment  and  enforcement,  or 
for  the  repeal  or  modification,  of  some  laic.  The  law- 
making power  is  to  decide  and  to  act  upon  the  right  or  the 
wrong  of  the  thing  in  issue,  for  law  is  a "rule  of  action, 
prescribed  by  the  supreme  power  of  the  State,  commanding 
what  is  right  and  prohibiting  what  is  wrong.”  If,  then, 
"sumptuary”  or  prohibitory  or  restrictive  laws  are  all  wrong 
in  themselves,  it  can  not  be  right  to  agitate,  that  is,  to  use  the 
forces  of  the  pulpit,  the  rostrum  and  the  press,  and  of  per- 
sonal influence,  to  secure  their  enactment.  It  can  not  be 
right  to  agitate  to  secure  that  which  is  wrong.  It  will  be 
admitted  that  the  only  justification  of  any  law  is  its  tendency 
to  promote  the  public  good,  which  includes  that  of  individ- 
uals, the  aggregation  of  whom  constitutes  the  public.  It  is 
not  right  to  endeavor  to  create  a general  public  sentiment 
or  public  opinion,  which  is  the  strongest  of  all  laws,  whether 
put  into  statutory  form  or  not,  and  which  will  of  itself  de- 
stroy this  traffic,  if  it  becomes  strong  enough,  without  any 


340 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


formal  legislation,  unless  it  is  also  right  to  ask  that  the 
result  of  the  agitation  be  made  into  law  when  that  law  would 
embody  the  public  will.  The  unanimous  State  has  no  more  a 
moral  right  to  seize  upon  and  destroy  the  inalienable  rip-ht 
to  make,  sell  and  use  intoxicating  liquor  than  has  a simile 
member  of  the  State.  Inalienable  rights  — life,  liberty  unless 
forfeited  — can  not  be  taken  away  by  any  but  tyrannical 
power.  Neither  can  property,  without  compensation,  and 
then  only  for  the  public  good.  But  this  really  does  not 
take  away  value  — it  only  changes  its  form.  It  is,  then, 
clear  that  the  right  to  endeavor  to  create  a public  sentiment, 
as  well  as  to  enact  public  sentiment  into  law,  is  denied  to 
those  in  all  countries  who  endeavor  to  prohibit  or  restrain 
the  traffic  in  alcoholic  drinks.  It  becomes  necessary,  then, 
for  us  to  decide  whether  this  claim  be  well  founded,  for  it 
goes  to  the  full  extent  of  denying  the  right  to  oppose  the 
liquor  traffic  at  all,  just  as  it  would  be  wrong  to  endeavor 
to  restrain  or  prohibit  men  from  engaging  in  agriculture 
or  commerce,  and  in  consuming  the  product  of  common 
human  industries. 

If  there  be  a right  of  personal  liberty  to  use  alcoholic 
liquors  as  a beverage,  against  the  will  and  to  the  injury  of 
the  public,  there  is  the  same  liberty  to  manufacture  and  sell 
in  order  that  it  may  be  exercised  without  prohibition,  either 
total  or  partial,  and  moral  opposition  is  as  much  wrong  as 
resistance  by  formal  laws. 

We  are  now,  then,  confronted  with  the  broad  and  funda- 
mental questions  : Is  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  liquors  one 
to  which  individuals  in  their  private  capacity  or  in  their 
social  relations,  or  their  civil  and  political  relations,  ought  to 
make  opposition,  either  moral  or  legal,  or  in  both  these 
ways  ? Have  individuals,  has  society  or  the  State,  the  right 
to  oppose  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  beverages  by  moral 
effort  or  by  positive  law?  If  that  traffic  may  be  opposed  in 
either  way,  it  may  be  opposed  in  both. 

OUGHT  IT  TO  BE  OrrOSED  IN  EITHER  ? 

It  is  a radical  question  ; for  if  the  answer  be  in  the  affirma- 
tive. then  the  extent  of  that  opposition  must  be  carried  to  the 
full  length  of  the  logic  which  justifies  any  interference  at  all. 


liUM  TRAFFIC  A SUBJECT  FOR  LEGISLATION. 


341 


If  any  opposition  to  the  freedom  of  the  trade  is  riirht, 
there  are  certain  reasons  why  that  opposition  is  right,  and 
but  for  which  that  opposition  would  be  wrong.  If  that 
opposition  for  those  reasons  and  for  the  attainment  of  cer- 
tain purposes  be  required  at  all,  then,  it  should  continue 
until  those  reasons  cease  longer  to  exist,  by  reason  of  the 
accomplishment  of  the  desired  ends. 

What  is  the  traffic,  and  whose  interests  are  concerned  in 
it?  Obviousty,  those  whose  interests  are  concerned  have  the 
right  to  participate  in  its  control.  No  man  liveth  to  him- 
self, no  one  nation  more  than  any  one  man.  Whose  inter- 
ests and  what  interests  are  concerned  in  this  traffic,  and  in 
what  way  are  those  interests  affected?  Is  there  any  traffic 
which  more  universally  and  vitally  concerns  every  unit,  and 
at  the  same  time  the  mass  of  the  human  race?  Is  there 
any  traffic  which  more  seriously  affects  every  interest  of  this 
world  and  of  the  world  which  is  to  come  ? What  traffic  so 
concerns  the  personal  fate  of  him  who  partakes  in  it?  What 
traffic  so  domimates  the  family  — parental,  filial,  fraternal 
and  conjugal  relations?  Does  not  the  traffic  concern  the 
citizen  in  his  personal  fitness  for  the  discharge  of  the  duties 
which  devolve  upon  him,  and  in  the  discharge  of  those 
duties  by  others  who  have  equal  powers  and  like  duties  with 
himself?  What  traffic  so  clutches  at  the  vitality  of  the  State 
and  of  nations,  and  thus  controls  the  very  sources  of  produc- 
tion, both  of  property  and  of  population,  of  enterprise,  hap- 
piness and  power?  What  traffic  so  involves  all  the  interests 
of  the  whole  world?  It  is  in  fact  a traffic  which  concerns 
everybody  who  exists  or  will  exist  on  the  face  of  the  earth 
through  the  whole  course  of  time,  until  it  and  its  conse- 
quences shall  cease,  which  will  be  either  by  the  destruction 
of  the  traffic  by  the  race  or  the  destruction  of  the  race  by 
the  traffic.  It  is  hardly  too  grave  a statement  to  say  that 
the  question  of  that  result  is  likely^  to  be  determined  by  the 
strusrcle  in  which  we  are  now  engaged.  That  struggle  can 
not  successfully  continue  if  it  is  not  right  to  continue  it. 

Sooner  or  later  mankind  will  determine  the  question  of 
riuht,  and  then  the  struggle  will  cease  by  the  assertion  of 
that  conviction  with  irresistible  force,  and  if  personal  liberty 
implies  freedom  of  the  poison  trade,  then  personal  liberty 


342 


TIIE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


is  to  be  vindicated  by  the  destruction  of  the  race,  for  whose 
happiness  personal  liberty  is  supposed  to  exist. 

If  avc  consider  the  parties  concerned  in  the  traffic  as  a 
mere  business,  Ave  have  first  the  maker,  and  second  the 
consumer. 

Now,  Avhat  has  a man  the  natural  right  to  make  ? Has 
he  a right  to  make  anything  and  everything  Avhieh  mortal 
ingenuity  and  skill  and  exertion  can  produce?  Absolute 
personal  liberty  Avill  give  him  that  natural  right.  May  he, 
then,  dig  a pit  for  his  neighbor?  May  he  build  a fire,  on 
his  oavii  land  if  you  please,  so  as  to  destroy  his  own  father 
and  mother  or  great  tenements  croAvded  with  the  numerous  - 
and  helpless  families  of  the  poor?  Can  he  manufacture 
poAvder  and  dynamite  in  crowded  cities?  Can  he  store 
them  under  theatres  and  churches  or  eAren  palaces?  Can 
he  manufacture  these  or  many  other  things  for  any  but  use- 
ful purposes?  Can  he  do  so  at  all,  notAvithstanding  his 
sacred  right  of  " personal  liberty,”  Avherever  the  exercise 
of  his  vocation  results  in  a product  or  an  action  Avholly  or 
even  partially  inimical  to  mankind?  Can  he  produce  things, 
serviceable  and  necessary  in  themselves  Avhen  applied  to 
beneficial  uses,  Avithout,  at  the  same  time,  submitting  to  the 
absolute  prohibition  of  their  production  for  hurtful  ends? 
Is  there  an  unlimited  right  to  create  facilities  for  destruc- 
tion? Has  any  man  personal  liberty  to  poison  the  air? 
Has  he  any  more  the  right  to  manufacture  any  poison, 
whether  in  one  form  or  another,  Avhieh,  like  the  corrupted 
air  and  like  the  plagues  of  Pandora’s  box,  once  out,  will  go 
everyAvhere  and  destroy  every  green  thing?  Does  personal 
liberty  extend  to  the  making  or  doing  of  all  this?  If  not, 
Avhy  not?  There  can  be  no  reason  for  the  restraint,  except 
that  the  exercise  of  personal  liberty  Avhieh  inflicts  evil  upon 
others  is  morally  Avrong  and  therefore  is  legally  prohibited. 
But  if  he  can  not  thus  make,  how  can  he  sell  or  distribute 
though  freely,  without  price,  that  Avhieh  Avill  injure  another 
or  that  Avhieh  is,  even  when  designed  for  a good  use,  liable  or 
likely  to  be  applied  to  the  injury  of  another?  Is  thei'e,  or 
should  there  be,  personal  liberty,  in  this  or  any  other  country, 
to  make  or  to  sell  (Avhieh  is  a part  of  the  making)  poAvder 
and  . dynamite  and  arsenic,  strychnine,  aconite  and  prussic 


ALCOHOL  A HESTKOYEIl. 


343 


acid,  for  any  but  uses  which  are  beneficial  to  society?  Is 
there  even  the  liberty  by  law  to  create  these  dangerous 
agencies  without  legal  supervision  and  watchfulness,  that 
they  be  applied  only  to  the  beneficial  use?  Can  you  sell 
them,  or  can  you  give  them  away,  without  responsibility, 
which  is  regulated  by  law?  Are  any  of  these  intrinsi- 
cally more  dangerous  to  individuals  or  to  society  than 
alcohol?  Nay,  will  not  every  man  instinctively  avoid  them 
if  he  knows  of  their  nature  or  apprehends  their  dangerous 
use?  But  who  of  its  victims  avoids  alcohol?  It  charms 
like  the  adder,  and  holds  its  victim  fast  with  its  "litter- 
ing eye.  Now,  what  is  alcohol,  and  how  does  it  seize 
and  hold  its  prey?  Alcohol  is  a substance  which  has  an 
affinity  for  the  soul  as  well  as  for  the  body.  It  is  an 
invisible  spirit  as  well  as  a physical  thing.  Shakespeare  has 
well  called  it  "devil.”  It  enters  at  the  lip  and  is  at  once  in 
the  brain,  burning,  raging,  destroying.  By  some  horrible 
alchemy,  some  inscrutable,  mysterious  and  awful  demon- 
ism of  affinity,  it  interpenetrates  and  possesses  the  whole 
threefold  nature  of  man,  and  recreates  him  into  the  image  of 
hell.  While  its  kingdom  lasts,  it  is  of  the  infernal  world. 
What  there  is  in  the  strange  compound  called  man  which 
yields  at  once  to  the  dictates  of  this  spiritual  and  physical 
poison,  we  cannot  tell.  But  alcohol  can  conquer  every 
human  organism.  It  mounts  to  the  brain.  It  captures  the 
citadel  of  thought.  Reason  hath  no  power  over  it.  It 
delights  while  it  destroys.  It  becomes  a second  nature. 
It  creates  a desire  for  continuous  use  which  is  as  imperious 
and  often  as  unconquerable  as  the  appetite  for  food.  The 
man  becomes  possessed.  The  brain,  the  stomach,  the  blood, 
the  tissues,  everything  craves,  with  unutterable,  unappeas- 
able longings,  more  poison,  more  delirium,  more  death. 
Once  fully  formed,  this  appetite  becomes  permanent.  It 
descends  with  the  blood  and  murders  in  the  third  and  fourth 
generation.  The  hereditary  taint  is  developed  and  re-en- 
forced  in  the  child  by  continued  use,  deepening  as  it  de- 
scends; and  thus  the  evil,  which  might  be  eliminated  by 
abstinence,  is  continually  growing  wider  and  deadlier  from 
generation  to  generation,  so  long  as  the  supply  comes  to  the 
increasingly  voracious  demand.  TV  hat  acohol  inflicts  others 


344 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


may  tell,  — of  madness,  idiocy,  starvation,  crime,  death, — 
but  we  have  the  character  of  the  agency  in  this  summary  of 
qualities.  Alcohol  enslaves  the  mind  and  the  body  so  long 
as  the  tit  of  intoxication  lasts.  Its  use  creates  an  appetite, 
unnatural  to  be  sure,  but  no  less  unappeasable  than  hunger 
for  healthy  food.  It  demands  its  supply  as  much  as  the 
natural  wants  of  both  body  and  mind.  Thus,  with  use, 
intoxication  becomes  perpetual,  and  even  in  what  appear 
to  be  the  most  sober  and  normal  conditions  of  the  man,  he  is 
in  a state  of  chronic  unsoundness,  which  unfits  him  for  the 
graver  tests  and  duties  of  life,  while  he  steadily  gravitates  in 
a geometrical  ratio  to  final  destruction.  As  the  process  goes 
on,  the  will  becomes  extinct.  "Will  is  freedom;  its  absence, 
slavery.  Reason  in  itself  has  no  power  to  resist  desire. 
Desire  grows  strong  as  the  will  grows  weak,  and  another 
will  is  evolved,  which  wars  for  the  supremacy  of  the  soul. 
It  finally  subjects  the  whole  man,  and  the  new  condition 
becomes  the  foundation  of  a great  industry  now  protected  by 
the  laws  of  the  land,  the  direct  effect  of  which  is  the  suicide 
of  human  nature. 

The  evil,  then,  of  alcoholic  intemperance  is  caused  by  the 
existence  of  a pernicious  industry  which  is  based  upon  the 
demand  for  the  hurtful  use  of  intoxicating  spirits.  "What  are 
the  remedies  for  this  state  of  things?  Obviously,  the  evil 
could  not  continue  if  the  creation  of  alcohol  should  cease  ; 
but  alcohol  would  not  be  manufactured  if  there  were  no 
demand  for  it.  There  would  be  no  hurtful  use  but  for  the 
appetite  which  the  improper  use  has  created.  But  the  unfor- 
tunate practices  of  the  past  have  produced  the  appetite,  until 
it  is  as  much  a fact  as  any  other  fact  in  the  conditions  of 
civilized  life. 

Is  it  right  that  personal  liberty'  be  exercised  to  create  an 
agency  like  this  for  the  express  purpose  of  being  sold  or 
given  away,  and  thus  destroying  mankind?  If  so,  there  is 
"personal  liberty”  to  commit  every  crime,  and  murder  is  a 
legitimate  occupation. 

Between  the  manufacturer  and  the  consumer  are  the  mid- 
dlemen, who  purchase  in  quantity,  transport  and  accomplish 
the  retail  sale.  Shall  they  exercise  this  same  God-given 
" personal  liberty  ” to  traffic  in  the  fatal  commodity  that  it 


" PERSONAL  LIBERTY  ” OF  CONSUMER. 


345 


may  be  applied  to  its  fatal  use?  Certainly  if  the  right  exists 
to  make,  it  exists  to  sell.  We  do  but  trifle  when  we  haggle 
over  the  sale  of  that  which  we  permit  to  be  made,  and  which 
is  worthless  unless  it  be  sold.  It  can  not  be  right  to  permit 
the  manufacture  of  that  which  it  is  a wrong  to  apply  to  the 
very  use  for  which  it  was  right  that  it  should  be  made.  Out 
upon  all  such  sophistry  ! The  maker  is  the  great  criminal, 
or  there  is  none.  Lay  the  ax  at  the  root  of  the  tree.  Attack 
the  maker  as  well  as  the  seller,  and  with  still  sturdier  blows 
hew  to  the  conscience  of  society,  and  destroy  the  greatest 
criminal  of  all. 

Now  we  come  to  the  consumer.  Has  he  personal  liberty 
to  consume?  Has  he  the  right  to  poison  himself?  Has  he 
the  moral  right?  The  sane  suicide  is,  by  all  the  laws  of  God 
and  man,  a murderer.  If  successful,  he  escapes  the  penalty 
of  human  laws,  but  renders  an  account  elsewhere.  If  he 
survives  the  attempt,  he  is,  by  the  common  law,  subject  to 
the  penalties  of  those  who  unlawfully,  but  unsuccessfully 
assail  the  life  of  their  fellow-men.  If  the  liquor  traffic  be 
wrong,  it  is  because  it  does  hurt.  That  hurt  is  done  by  reason 
of  the  consumption,  and  but  for  the  consumption  the  manu- 
facture would  cease.  There  is  no  escape  from  the  conclusion, 
then.  If  the  consumer,  having  still  self-control  to  that  extent 
■which  involves  moral  responsibility,  consumes  alcohol  to  his 
hurt,  he  is  a wrong-doer.  The  sane  suicide,  if  there  be  one, 
commits  a Avrong.  He  has  duties  and  responsibilities  to 
societ}r  and  in  his  relations  to  his  Creator  ; it  is  also  a violation 
of  his  duty  not  to  stay  in  the  Avorld  all  the  days  of  his  ap- 
pointed time,  until  his  change  come,  in  the  attempt  to  dis- 
charge the  obligations  of  life,  from  which  he  can  not  escape. 
So  the  consumer  of  alcohol  Avho  does  so  to  the  injury  of  his 
poAver  to  perform  those  duties  (and  I believe  that  any  indul- 
gence which  is  not  medicinal  is  injurious)  does  a moral 
Avrong,  a Avrong  to  others,  so  far  as  he  does  a personal  injury 
to  himself ; for  such  personal  injury  deprives  both  himself 
and  others  of  that  affirmative  exercise  of  his  powers  for 
good  Avhich  is  demanded  by  his  duty  to  God,  society  and 
himself. 


34G 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


CRIMES  AND  VICES. 

I am  aware  of  the  distinction  drawn  between  crimes  and 
vices.  Crimes  are  offenses  against  the  rights,  either  of  per- 
son or  property,  which  belong  to  others,  and  society  punishes 
crimes  by  law.  A vice  is  a wrong  personal  practice,  which 
is  supposed  not  directly  to  injure  the  public,  or  which  society 
has  not  yet  by  legislation  placed  in  the  category  of  crimes. 
But  of  any  vice  which  injures  society,  society  may  at  any 
time  take  jurisdiction  as  a crime,  and  there  is  no  vice  which 
injures  only  the  individual.  In  the  nature  of  things,  as 
societ}r  is  made  up  of  individuals,  'whatever  hurts  one  of  its 
members  injures  the  whole  ; and,  if  the  evil  be  flagrant,  the 
self-infliction,  'which,  while  responsibility  lasts,  is  the  only 
form  in  which  a vicious  practice  exists  at  all,  — for  every 
man  does  his  own  drinking, — is  no  excuse,  any  more  than 
attempted  self-destruction  is  an  excuse  from  the  consequences 
of  an  attempt  to  kill.  Hence  it  is  the  duty  of  society  to 
prohibit  and  to  punish  vices  'which  have  become  a serious 
evil.  A serious  evil  can  not  be  confined  to  him  who  commits 
it.  A man  has  no  right  wantonly  to  burn  his  own  house,  to 
maim  himself,  to  pursue  a course  which  will  surely  destroy 
his  person  or  his  property,  dethrone  reason,  deprive  those  of 
his  active  help  who  are  entitled  to  it,  or  which  will  cast  him 
a helpless  burden  upon  others  who  are  in  personal  relations 
to  him,  or  a wreck  upon  society  at  large.  The  law,  in 
most  cases,  does  prohibit  any  such  falsely  so-called  "personal 
liberty  ” as  this,  and  I believe  should  prohibit  and  punish 
the  otherwise  than  medicinal  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  by 
the  consumer  himself.  If  there  be  no  public  sentiment  now 
which  will  enact  and  enforce  such  a law,  then,  agitation  should 
continue  until  the  question  be  settled  whether  or  not  the 
practice  of  intoxication  be  right  or  wrong,  even  though  it  be 
concealed  from  the  public  gaze.  Adieu  that  question  is  set- 
tled, principles  already  determined  upon  and  adopted  in  other 
cases  will  dispose  of  this,  in  regard  to  the  prohibition  of  the 
use  by  the  consumer.  I always  contend,  however,  for  the 
logical  result  of  the  premises  I lay  down,  or  I abandon 
the  premises.  The  present  agitation  seeks  no  prohibition  by 
law  of  any  consumption  by  the  individual  which  does  not 


I 


LIQUOlt  TRAFFIC  AS  A "BUSINESS.”  347 

lead  him  to  disturb  the  public  peace.  There  will  be  a time 
when  the  consumer  to  his  own  serious  injury  will  be  punished 
by  law. 

If  alcohol  be  a medicine,  its  use  as  such  should  be  free, 
subject  only  to  such  regulations  as  will  secure  its  safe  ad- 
ministration, as  in  case  of  any  poison;  but  any  other  use 
within  the  human  system  is  wrong,  and  should  be  prohibited. 
This  is  no  supervision  of  the  mind,  no  interference  with 
freedom  of  thought.  It  is  only  the  assertion  of  the  well 
settled  principle  of  law,  that  a man  shall  not  intelligently 
inflict  upon  himself  a wrong  which  is  from  its  very  nature  an 
injury  to  society,  and  which  for  that  reason  he  may  not  inflict 
upon  others. 

But  let  us  examine  the  nature  of  this  traffic,  as  a business 
transaction,  more  closely. 

What  is  the  work  of  the  manufacturer?  He  withdraws 
capital,  which  is  the  product  of  human  toil,  from  investment 
in  useful  enterprises,  and  employs  it  in  a business  which 
destroys  humanity.  He  seizes  upon  human  food,  fresh  from 
the  hand  of  beneficent  Nature,  and  converts  it  into  an  active 
poison,  which  generates  disease  and  invades  the  citadel  of  life. 
He  applies  the  labor  of  man,  which  should  be  directed  to  the 
production  of  things  of  use  and  beauty,  to  that  which  deforms 
and  destroys.  He  invokes,  and  he  receives,  the  protection 
of  the  laws  and  institutions  of  society  for  himself  and  his 
familj'  and  his  property.  He  produces  in  return  that  which 
eviscerates  the  very  life  of  the  body  politic ; fills  the  land 
with  pests ; the  asylums,  the  hospitals  and  the  penitentiaries 
with  occupants,  and  builds  nine  out  of  every  ten  gibbets 
where  murderers  expiate  their  crimes.  Society,  which  pro- 
tects him  and  his  business,  thus  inflicts  upon  itself  more  mis- 
ery than  it  suffers  from  pestilence,  famine  and  war.  Society 
is  guiltier  far  than  the  maker  and  dealer,  who  has  at  least  the 
environment  of  business,  the  inducement  of  trade,  the  neces- 
sity of  support  for  himself  and  of  those  dependent  upon  him, 
and  an  occupation  which  constitutions  and  laws  have  pro- 
tected from  time  immemorial,  to  blunt  his  moral  sensibilities, 
or  to  induce  him  to  continue  in  the  profitable  entanglements 
which  an  aroused  conscience  is  not  quite  strong  enough  to 
break.  Society  has  no  such  excuse.  Society  gives  all.  and 


348 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


receives  in  return  this  stone,  or  serpent,  which  is  worse  than 
the  stone. 

Look  further,  too,  at  the  consumer.  He  pays  his  money, 
the  product  of  legitimate  industry,  for  the  product  of  the 
still ; a valuable  consideration  for  that  which  satisfieth  not, 
and  which  curses  with  an  unconquerable  desire  for  more  and 
more  of  that  which  was  all  shames  and  crimes  in  the  beginning. 

"What  does  alcohol  to  the  husband?  It  converts  him  into 
a brute  for  life,  and  turns  death  into  a blessing. 

What  does  alcohol  to  the  wife  ? It  converts  her  into  a 
maudlin  fiend,  a sot,  an  outcast,  and  shames  the  earth  with 
a species  of  fallen  angel,  for  which  hell  has  no  rival. 

What  does  alcohol  to  them  both?  It  turns  parentage  into 
a crime,  and  young  life  into  inherited  misery  and  debase- 
ment; loads  childhood  with  burdens  which  maturity  can  not 
bear ; blasts  existence  with  shame  and  want,  sickness  and 
despair ; transmits  crime  and  idiocy,  insanity,  disease,  pain 
and  perchance  (by  good-fortune)  death. 

What  does  alcohol  to  the  child?  It  blasts  the  fond  hope 
and  high  promise  with  which  life  began ; crushes  out  the 
mother’s  soul,  and  brings  down  the  gray  hairs  of  the  once 
proud  father  in  sorrow  to  the  grave.  Thus,  in  its  turn, 
childhood  curses  parentage,  and  all  the  affections  of  human 
nature  bring  forth  the  ashes  of  despair. 

And  so  it  is  that,  in  every  possible  aspect  in  which  we  can 
contemplate  this  traffic  in  alcohol  as  a beverage,  we  find  it  to 
be  evil,  utterly  evil.  If  there  be  any  other  thing  which  is 
under  the  control  of  man,  or  to  the  influence  of  -which  he  is 
subjected,  whether  or  not  it  be  under  his  control,  from  which 
he  suffers  so  much,  as  an  individual  and  in  his  social  and 
his  larger  relations,  what  is  it?  If  there  be  anything  to 
which  he  may  oppose  his  heart,  his  thought,  his  tongue,  his 
pen,  his  hand,  and  all  the  organized  forces  of  the  State,  what 
is  it,  if  it  be  not  the  traffic  in  alcohol  ? Think  over  the  whole 
category  of  things  which  blast  and  destroy  mankind,  and 
name  the  curse  so  universal  and  so  threatening  as  this 
octopus,  with  his  deadly  tentacles  glued  upon  the  homes 
and  the  bleeding  hearts  of  all  Christendom  — upon  every 
continent  — and  whose  choicest  prey  is  the  most  highly 
developed  and  civilized  of  the  race. 


Miss  Julia  Coleman , 

Superintendent  of  Literature , National  IV.  C.  T.  U. 


FUNDAMENTAL  PROPOSITIONS. 


349 


It  seems  an  absurdity  to  claim  that  such  an  evil  is  beyond 
and  above  inoral  and  legal  restraint.  AYe  have  already  seen 
that,  if  subject  to  either,  and  the  necessity  require,  it  must 
be  subject  to  both.  I shall  venture  to  assume  that  the  con- 
stant warfare  of  the  last  hundred  years  for  the  rescue  of  men 
from  this  infinite  curse  has  not  been  attempted  tyranny  on 
the  part  of  those  who  waged  it ; that  " personal  liberty  ” has 
not  been  violated  by  all  these  gigantic  efforts  of  the  greatest 
and  tenderest  and  the  best,  to  promote  the  happiness  of 
others  by  all  the  energies  of  personal  love,  of  enlarged  phi- 
lanthropy, of  the  church  and  of  the  State  ; that  the  mighty 
noise  of  the  battle  to-day  is  not  all  for  the  destruction  of  our 
liberties,  but  rather  for  their  preservation,  and  for  the  salva- 
tion of  our  homes  and  of  our  country,  and  for  the  happiness 
of  mankind. 

I close  this  chapter  with  certain  propositions  which  I 
believe  to  be  true.  They  were  advanced  by  me  on  an  occa- 
sion now  long  past.  They  have  been  subjected  to  at  least 
the  opportunity  of  critical  examination,  which  I know  they 
have  received  on  the  part  of  those  who  are  interested  to  dis- 
prove them ; for  if  they  be  true  propositions,  then,  " their 
craft  is  in  danger.”  They  have  never  yet  been  confuted, 
nor,  so  far  as  I know,  even  assailed. 

These  propositions  cover  the  case,  and  if  they  are  not 
true  they  ought  to  be  confuted,  for  many  believe  them,  and 
will  act  upon  them  until  they  be  either  disproved  or  be 
enforced  by  all  the  powers  of  moral  suasion  and  of  public 
law. 


FUNDAMENTAL  PROPOSITIONS. 

In  order  to  justify  legislation  of  any  kind  restricting  the 
manufacture  and  use  of  alcoholic  liquors,  I believe  it  to  be 
necessary  to  maintain  these  propositions : 

First.  That  it  is  the  duty  of  society,  through  the  agency 
of  government,  which  is  the  creature  of  society,  to  enact  and 
enforce  all  laws  which,  while  protecting  the  individual  in  the 
full  possession  and  enjoyment  of  his  inalienable  rights,  tend 
to  promote  the  general  welfare,  and  especialty  whenever 
that  welfare  is  impaired  or  threatened  by  any  existing  or 
impending  evil  it  is  the  duty  of  society  to  enact  and  enforce 


350 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


laws  to  restrict  or  destro}'  that  evil.  It  may  be  proper  to 
observe  that  no  law  can  promote  the  general  welfare  which 
deprives  an  individual  of  an  inalienable  right,  when  that 
right  is  properly  defined,  or  which  impairs  the  enjoyment 
thereof,  whether  of  life,  liberty,  property,  or  the  pursuit  of 
happiness.  But  society  has  inalienable  rights  as  well  as 
individuals,  and  the  right  to  such  legislation  as  will  promote 
the  general  welfare,  in  its  true  sense,  is  one  of  them  ; and 
the  inalienable  rights  of  individuals  and  the  inalienable 
rights  of  society  .at  large  are  limited  by,  and  must  be  con- 
strued and  enjoyed  with  reference  to  each  other. 

Second.  While  society  has  no  right  to  prevent  or  restrict 
the  use  of  an  article  by  individuals  for  purposes  which  are 
beneficial  only,  yet  if  that  use,  beneficial  to  some,  is  found 
by  experience  to  be  naturally  and  inevitably  greatly  injuri- 
ous in  its  effects  upon  others  and  upon  society  in  general, 
then  it  becomes  the  duty  of  society,  in  the  exercise  of  its 
inalienable  right,  to  promote  the  general  welfare,  and,  in 
self-defense  to  social  life,  just  as  the  individual  may  defend 
his  natural  life,  to  prohibit,  regulate  or  restrict  the  use  of 
that  article,  as  the  case  may  require.  This  principle  is 
daily  applied  in  laws  which  control  the  manufacture  and 
use  of  gunpowder,  nitro-glycerine,  dynamite,  and  other 
things  of  great  and  dangerous  potency,  the  unrestrained  use 
of  which,  even  for  useful  purposes,  has  been  shown  by 
experience  to  be  destructive  to  the  inalienable  rights  of 
others.  This  results  from  the  common  principle  of  law  that 
every  man  must  so  enjoy  his  own  rights  as  neither  to 
destroy  or  impair  those  of  another,  and  it  is  the  great  end 
for  which  government  is  instituted  among  men  to  compel 
him  so  to  do. 

Third.  No  person  has  a right  to  do  that  to  himself  which 
impairs  or  perverts  his  own  powers ; and  when  he  does  so 
by  means  of  that  which  society  can  reach  and  remove  by 
law,  to  such  extent  as  to  become  a burden  or  a source  of 
danger  to  others,  either  by  his  example  or  by  his  liability  to 
commit  acts  of  crime,  or  to  be  essentially  incapacitated  to 
discharge  his  duties  to  himself,  his  family  and  society,  the 
law  — that  is,  society  — should  protect  both  him  and  itself. 
A man  has  no  more  right  to  destroy  his  inalienable  rights 


FUNDAMENTAL  TKOPOSITIONS. 


351 


than  those  of  another,  or  than  another  has  to  deprive  him 
of  his  own.  The  laws  restraining  the  spendthrift  in  the 
destruction  of  his  inalienable  right  in  property,  and  pun- 
ishing suicide  (as  the  common  law  did,  by  forfeiture  of 
estate,  etc.)  or  attempted  self-murder  (as  the  law  does  now), 
are  familiar  examples  of  the  application  of  this  principle. 

These  are  elementary  principles  of  law  and  of  common- 
sense.  They  are  corner-stones  of  all  just  government.  To 
these  principles  every  member  of  society  is  held  to  have 
given  his  assent.  They  are  unquestioned,  so  far  as  I know, 
by  any  one  who  believes  in  any  law.  They  are  axiomatic, 
and  indestructible  as  the  social  organization  itself. 

Fourth.  The  use  (unless  medicinally)  of  alcoholic  liquors 
to  the  extent  of  intoxication  or  poisoning — which,  as  will 
hereafter  be  seen,  is  the  same  thing  as  intoxication  — is 
an  injury  to  the  individual ; it  inflicts  great  evils  upon 
societ}’  at  large  ; it  is  destructive  to  the  general  welfare ; it 
is  of  a nature  which  may  be  greatly  restricted  if  not  de- 
stroyed by  the  enforcement  of  appropriate  laws.  Conse- 
quently such  laws  should  be  enacted  and  enforced  ; and  this 
should  be  done  in  our  country,  either  by  the  States  or  by 
the  general  government,  or  by  both,  if  such  laws  can  be 
made  more  efficient  thereby.  If  these  propositions  be  true, 
I believe  that  the  facts  in  the  controversy  between  man  and 
alcohol  unquestionably  bring  the  traffic  under  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  prohibitory  law. 

If  these  propositions  be  not  true,  then,  society  is  without 
cement  and  government  is  rank  usurpation. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


UNDER  WHICH  LAW,  LICENSE  OR  PROHIBITION? 

The  Principles  Underlying  the  License  Idea  Discussed — Prohibition 
under  a Chinese  Emperor,  Four  Thousand  Years  Ago — New  York 
City  under  License  Mapped  and  Studied  as  a City  of  Saloons  — The 
Relative  Merits  of  License  and  Prohibition  as  Means  of  Restriction  — 
“Prohibition  Does  not  Prohibit,”  an  Absurdity  — Gov.  Dingley’s  Tes- 
timony— New  Hampshire  and  Vermont. 

ASSUMING,  from  the  preceding  facts  and  discussion, 
that  opposition  to  the  liquor  traffic  by  the  individual 
and  society  is  obedience  to  the  first  law  of  nature,  which  is 
the  exercise  of  the  great  right  of  self-defense,  it  becomes  a 
vital  matter  to  determine  in  what  way  and  by  what  methods 
that  right  shall  be  exercised.  It  is  obvious  that  it  must  be 
done  either  by  persuasion  or  by  force,  or  by  their  combina- 
tion. The  conduct  of  the  producer  and  of  the  consumer 
must  be  controlled  by  their  oavii  will  voluntarily  yielding  to 
the  right,  or  by  the  will  of  others.  No  human  power  has  the 
right  to  force  the  will  of  the  individual  when  on  the  defen- 
sive, save  the  State.  If  the  liquor  traffic  existed  only  by 
mere  sufferance,  and  not  by  legal  recognition  and  under  the 
protection  of  the  State,  the  law  of  self-defense  would  justify 
individuals  and  communities  in  the  use  of  so  much  force  as 
should  be  found  necessary  to  destroy  it  without  resort  to 
legal  measures.  But  it  now  exists  under  the  protection  of 
law.  It  will  not  yield  to  persuasion.  If,  then,  it  is  to  be 
removed,  force  must  be  applied  by  the  sovereign  power 
under  the  direction  of  the  sovereign  will.  That  will  is  the 
law  ; and  if  its  existing  expression  protects  the  traffic,  it  must 
be  changed  to  secure  the  regulation  or  the  destruction  of  the 
traffic. 

The  law  must  permit  absolutely  without  restraint  of  the 
trade  — as  in  case  of  any  useful  occupation  ; or  it  must  regu- 
late and  restrict,  which  implies  that  the  trade  is  more  or  less 
dangerous  to  society ; or  it  must  prohibit  absolutely,  which 


THE  LICENSE  IDEA. 


353 


implies  that  the  traffic  is  bad  in  itself  or  so  dangerous  to 
society,  or  both  so  bad  and  dangerous,  that  the  public  good 
requires  its  outlawry  and  extinction. 

A tax  or  duty  upon  the  occupation  does  not  assume  the 
existence  of  any  evil  in  that  occupation.  The  power  of 
taxation  may  be  exercised  upon  any  trade  whatever  in  the 
discretion  of  the  sovereign  power  ; that  of  the  teacher,  the 
clergyman  and  the  husbandman  or  the  lawyer,  as  well  as  of 
the  dealer  in  strong  drink.  So  a tax  may  be  levied  upon 
an}r  production  whatever;  as  cloth,  tobacco,  sugar  or  salt. 
Nothing  against  the  occupation  or  product  is  implied  by  the 
imposition  of  a mere  tax. 

A license  fee  may  stand  upon  different  ground,  and  may 
be  imposed  either  for  the  sake  of  revenue  or  for  restraint,  or 
with  both  ends  in  view.  If  by  law  the  license  be  free  to 
■every  one  who  will  pay  the  license  fee,  and  it  be  conceded 
that  the  occupation  and  the  product  are  useful  and  not  hurt- 
ful to  society,  then,  the  license  fee  is  only  another  form  of 
taxation,  and  should  be  uniform  and  impartial  in  its  opera- 
tion ; otherwise,  it  becomes  tyranny.  If  the  law  goes 
further  and  imposes  conditions  to  restrain,  to  regulate  and 
■curb  the  industry  by  imposing  an  excessive  or  burdensome 
charge,  or  by  restricting  its  exercise  to  a favored  few,  or  in 
■other  ways  designed  to  restrain  the  production  or  the  occu- 
pation, it  is  then  not  a tax,  but  a prohibition,  so  far  as  it 
goes,  and  can  only  be  justified  upon  the  ground  that  the 
traffic  is  a public  evil,  and  the  degree  of  prohibition,  whether 
absolute  or  partial,  is  to  be  determined  wholly  by  the  extent 
of  the  evil  and  the  degree  to  which  the  public  good  requires 
its  restraint.  So  that  a restrictive  license  law  stands  upon  the 
sam o,  principle  as  absolute  prohibition.  Whoever  concedes  the 
principle  of  the  high  or  low  license  law,  the  law  which  is  not 
enacted  purely  and  onljr  for  the  sake  of  revenue,  has  given 
up  the  " personal  liberty  ” shibboleth,  and  stands  upon  the 
same  ground  of  principle  as  the  most  fanatical  prohibitionist. 
The  argument  between  them  has  ceased  by  a surrender  to  the 
principle  of  the  prohibitionist,  and  all  further  discussion  is 
confined  to  the  question  of  the  degree  of  culpability  on  the 
part  of  the  traffic  and  the  demands  of  the  public  welfare. 
Whoever  holds  to  the  position  that  there  should  be  no 
23 


354 


the  temperance  movement. 


" sumptuary  laws  ” is  for  " free  rum.”  Thus  wide  is  the  gulf 
between  the  theories  and  platforms  of  those  who  are  for 
" prohibition  ” and  those  who  are  against  it.  There  is  no 
middle  ground  of  principle.  Liquor  dealers’  associations, 
which,  under  the  pressure  of  outraged  and  aroused  public 
conscience,  endeavor  to  protect  their  craft  by  the  open  or 
secret  advocacy  of  any  form  of  license  laws,  have  no  princi- 
ple or  logic  remaining  upon  which  to  base  their  action. 
Admitting  their  trade  to  be  an  evil,  they  must  prove  that  the 
license  law  is  better  for  the  public  than  the  prohibitory  law 
when  faithfully  enforced  and  with  their  oxon  co-operation. 

It  is  no  reply  to  say  that  the  prohibitory  law  can  not  be  so 
well  enforced  as  the  law  of  license  ; for  nothing  but  their 
own  opposition  ever  has  stood,  or  ever  will  stand,  in  the  way 
of  such  enforcement.  Therefore,  the  question  is  between 
the  relative  good  resulting  from  absolute  prohibition  of  the 
use  of  alcoholic  beverages  and  their  use  under  a license  law, 
which  is  absolutely  no  practical  prohibition,  except  as  pecu- 
niary and  other  mere  transient  difficulties  are  put  in  the  wav, 
like  the  grass  thrown  at  the  boy  whom  the  "old  man  found 
in  his  apple-tree,  stealing  apples.” 

When,  therefore,  the  traffic  asks  or  consents  to  a license 
law,  whether  high  or  low,  it  must  be  plainly  understood  that 
its  motive  is  to  secure  an  enactment  under  which,  by  fraud 
and  evasion,  more  of  that  absolute  freedom  which  it  is  en- 
titled to  under  the  anti-prohibitory  theory  is  attainable  than 
can  be  secured  with  the  same  effort  by  fraud  and  evasion  to 
escape  from  the  meshes  of  absolute  prohibition.  In  other 
words,  it  is  seeking  free  rum  under  license,  because  license  is 
less  hurtful  to  the  trade  than  prohibition. 

Whoever  supports  a license  law  assists,  however  uninten- 
tionally, to  secure  that  end.  I admit  that  a highly  restrictive 
license  law  may  be  executed,  although  it  seldom  is,  for  a 
short  time  beneficially  ; but  invariably  it  soon  degenerates 
into  freedom,  and  the  quantity  consumed  is  seldom  dimin- 
ished for  the  time  being  even,  and  soon  it  is  increased. 
If  public  sentiment  should  continue  active  against  the 
traffic,  it  inevitably  passes  on  into  prohibition.  If  public 
sentiment  sinks  and  recedes,  license  becomes  no  law  at 
all.  Invariabljv  the  holder  of  the  license  violates  its  con- 


PROHIBITION  OR  LICENSE. 


355 


clitions,  and  thereby  incurs  the  penalty  of  the  law,  so  that 
danger  to  himself  compels  him  to  permit  the  sale  by  his 
neighbor  who  has  no  license  at  all.  The  great  pretended 
advantage  of  his  co-operation  with  the  community  in  the  en- 
forcement of  the  law  disappears,  and  we  have  " free  rum.” 
Certainly,  there  can  be  no  more  freedom  under  the  prohib- 
itory than  under  the  license  law,  when  neither  is  enforced 
and  if  the  traffic  be  intrinsically  right,  why  enact  prohibi- 
tion, either  total  or  partial,  in  the  form  of  license  or  of  abso- 
lute denial? 

It  is  better  to  have  a good  law  partially  executed  than  a 
bad  law  which  seems  to  sanction  the  evil,  and  which  will  be 
no  better  executed  than  the  good  one.  God  put  prohibition 
into  the  ten  commandments ; certainly  they  are  not  fully  en- 
forced. Yet  He  never  has  repealed  them.  It  is  safe  to  fol- 
low His  plan  of  legislation.  The  non-enforcement  of  a good 
law  is  a strange  reason  for  its  repeal ; that  is  to  say,  if  there 
be  an  evil  which  requires  the  aid  of  law  — the  interference 
of  the  government  — for  its  extinction,  the  law  being  pro- 
vided and  failing  of  execution  because  of  the  continued  exist- 
ence  and  strength  of  the  evil,  the  law  should  be  repealed  in 
order  that  the  evil  maj^  still  more  increase  ! 

If  it  be  a bad  public  example  to  neglect  the  enforcement 
of  needed  law,  what  are  we  to  say  of  that  public  " example  ” 
which  succumbs  to  the  evil  by  withdrawing  all  protest  and 
confessing  the  subjugation  of  the  government  itself  to  its 
power.  If  the  prohibitory  law  exists,  it  will  be  the  more 
effective  whenever  wanted,  and  is  the  more  easily  enforced 
when  any  law  can  lie  enforced.  But  the  license  law  is  fre- 
quently advocated  by  the  enemies  of  prohibition  from  a purely 
business  motive.  Wealth  is  glad  to  remove  the  small  dealer 
by  the  imposition  of  a heavy  fee  and  then  to  absorb  the 
profits  of  the  whole  trade  to  itself.  Monopoly  is  after  every 
dollar  there  is  on  earth.  It  is  forever  the  big  fish  swallow- 
ing the  little  one.  But  why  should  the  rich  man  be  allowed 
his  gilded  saloon,  when  the  poor  man  is  denied  his  slum? 
The  man  who  patronizes  the  former  will  become  the  pest 
who  supports  the  latter.  Is  wealth  to  be  used  to  destroy  its 
possessor?  Such  a doctrine  justifies  suicide  ! Whjr  should 
not  the  wretch  be  permitted  to  commit  hari  Jcari  in  a hovel, 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


356 

as  "well  as  the  dude  and  the  gentleman  surrounded  by  syrens 
and  magnificence?  There  is  no  argument  for  license  which 
is  not  an  argument  for  absolute  "personal  liberty” — for  the 
totally  unrestricted  traffic. 

A restriction  by  license  or  tax  is  no  greater  impediment, 
certainly,  than  absolute  prohibition  and  the  infliction  of  the 
penalties  and  disgrace  of  crime.  If  prohibition  fails  wholly 
or  partially,  then  must  license,  high  or  low,  or  taxation  in 
any  disguise,  which  is  permission  whatever  form  - it  takes, 
fail  still  more  and  worse.  There  never  yet  was  in  an}r  com- 
munity  the  necessary  public  opinion  to  enforce  a license  law, 
which  would  not  accomplish  more  to  remove  the  curse  if 
■operating  to  administer  a prohibitory  law.  No  prohibitory 
law  was  ever  weakened  or  repealed,  and  no  license  law  was 
ever  substituted  for  prohibition,  for  the  purpose  of  sujjpress- 
ing  the  evils  of  intemperance.  The  motives,  the  interests 
and  the  influences  which  oppose  the  enactment  of  prohibitory 
legislation  are  always  identified  with  the  rum  power.  Indeed, 
the  staple  argument  for  license  is  that  thereby  a strong  in- 
terest is  created  which,  in  self-defense  and  to  promote  its 
own  increase  and  profits,  will  aid  to  enforce  the  law  against 
others  who  seek  to  engage  in  the  same  nefarious  business. 

But  how  delusive  is  even  this  pretense.  Who  ever  knew 
of  a licensed  liquor  saloon  being  conducted,  except  tempo- 
rarily, without  constant  violation  of  the  restrictions  in  the 
law  under  which  it  existed,  and  the  incurrence  of  liability  to 
its  penalties?  How  long  does  the  licensee  continue  in  that 
innocence  without  which  he  dares  not  accuse  the  dealer  who 
sells  without  any  license,  at  his  side,  in  defiance  of  all  law 
whatever?  A " nuisance  ” he  may  aid  to  suppress,  for  that 
hurts  his  trade  by  arousing  the  indignation  of  the  commu- 
nity,— but  he  never  moves  on  the  enemy’s  works  from  any 
other  motive,  and  seldom  from  even  that.  With  slight  and 
temporary  exceptions,  a license  law  is  no  law  at  all.  There 
is  no  practical  difference  in  the  end,  and  the  degree  prohi- 
bition which  there  is  in  the  license  law  is  all  that  does  any 
good. 

The  only  good  ultimate  effect  of  a license  law  is  to 
demonstrate  its  own  utter  worthlessness,  and  thus  to  contrib- 
ute by  experience,  which  is  the  great  teacher,  to  the  evolu- 


The  Late  John  B.  Finch 


THE  STATE  AND  LICENSE. 


357 


tion  of  the  law  of  perfect  prohibition.  We  approach  the 
light  very  slowly.  The  so-called  prohibitory  laws,  so  far  as 
the}r  have  failed,  have  done  so  because  they  were  partially,  in 
effect,  license  laws  themselves,  and  they  always  will  be  so 
until  that  part  of  the  trade  hitherto  untouched  and  unre- 
strained is  brought  under  jurisdiction : to  wit,  the  manu- 
facture, the  transportation  and  the  importation,  which  are  now 
protected  by  national  power. 

The  national  protection  to  the  liquor  traffic  is  the  true 
reason  of  the  failure  of  State  prohibitory  laws,  so  far  as 
they  have  been  inefficient.  As  well  may  a single  county 
expect  to  fully  enforce  prohibition  while  adverse  laws  and 
a hostile  public  opinion  surround  it.  As  the  homely  proverb 
sa}-s : " The  fault  is  in  the  finder.”  Our  present  system  of 
prohibition  is  at  best  nothing  more  than  an  attempt  at  local 
option  by  States,  and  is  subject  to  ail  the  inherent  weakness 
which  exists  in  such  movements  in  the  several  States.  Far 
better  than  nothing ; but  we  must  reach  the  manufacture 
and  the  importation  and  the  transportation  by  national 
power. 

The  effect  of  the  imposition  of  a license  fee  is,  in  itself 
alone,  perhaps  calculated  to  restrict  the  number  of  those 
who  engage  in  the  traffic,  and  also  to  give  the  public  a share 
in  the  proceeds  of  the  sale.  But,  in  practice,  it  is  all 
collected  from  the  public,  either  by  an  increase  of  the  price 
or  by  the  dilution  or  adulteration  of  the  drink.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  blunts  the  public  conscience ; it  sinks  the 
State  to  the  level  of  the  partaker,  which  is  the  level  of 
the  thief ; while  the  gain  to  the  public  coffers  is  that  of  the 
man  who  in  a conflagration  should  rescue  his  dog  but  lose 
his  family.  The  tremendous  account  for  burdens  upon 
society,  and  even  those  imposed  directly  upon  the  State  for 
pauperism,  crime,  insanity  and  charity,  sustained  by  taxa- 
tion, loss  of  production  and  immense  taxable  values  which 
Avould  exist  but  for  the  traffic,  arouse  our  hot  indignation 
and  scorn  when  the  trifling  revenues  from  it  are  suggested 
as  any  palliation  or  compensation  for  such  dire  calamities. 

Whenever  it  is  apparent  that  the  collection  of  a tax  upon 
some  occupation  or  commodity  is  required  to  defray  the 
public  expenses,  there  are  many  reasons  why  this  traffic 


358 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


should  be  selected  to  bear  the  imposition,  perhaps  sooner 
than  any  other ; but  it  should  not  be  selected  if  it  appears 
that  such  tax  'will  increase  the  trade  or  interfere  ■with  its 
extirpation.  Ten  thousand  times  more  revenue  can  be  col- 
lected b}r  destroying  than  by  taxing  the  liquor  trade,  for  by  its 
extinction  how  many  fold  should  we  multiply  the  wealth  and 
happiness  of  the  people  now,  and  for  all  coming  time? 

But  I believe  the  granting  of  any  license,  high  or  low,  to 
make  or  sell  intoxicating  drinks  is  a moral  wrong,  and  that, 
by  constitutional  prohibition  of  the  whole  traffic,  should  be 
made  a legal  wrong,  — a crime  against  the  Constitution  and 
society.  There  are  no  considerations  of  pecuniary  advan- 
tage to  the  State  which  justify  it  for  a moment,  — no  matter 
if  proportions  were  reversed  and  the  profit  of  the  tax  were 
as  great  as  is  the  destruction  wrought  by  the  traffic. 

Can,  then,  the  enactment  of  a license  law  ever  be  justi- 
fied? No  ! Absolute  prohibition  should  be  the  law  of  the 
land.  To  enact  any  other  is  a wrong. 

Is  the  enactment  of  a license  law  ever  to  be  excused? 
No  ! It  must,  however,  sometimes  be  submitted  to.  The 
trouble  about  the  business  is  this  : YTe  are  under  the  law  of 
absolute  freedom.  The  traffic  stands,  like  wheat-raising, 
under  the  full  protection  of  the  law.  The  State  is  respon- 
sible for  its  existence  and  for  its  vast  proportions,  for  its 
shames,  miseries,  losses  and  crimes, — just  the  same  as 
though  it  should  fail  to  enact  laws  for  the  preservation  of 
public  order  and,  still  worse,  should  protect  men  in  making 
war  upon  society.  That  is  the  astounding  position  in  which 
governments  now  actually  stand.  They  have  given  unre- 
stricted consent  and  full  jmotection,  and  are  partners  in  the 
concern,  suffering  the  losses  but  getting  none  of  the  profits, 
save  only  as  they  promote  an  industry  presumed  to  be  useful, 
because  it  has  been  accepted  as  legitimate  by  acquiescence 
and  positive  law. 

Three  cases  arise  : — 

First.  Government  says  to  the  traffic  : “I  am  in  want  of 
money.  You  can  furnish  it  better  than  other  occupations. 
Therefore  I impose  a tax.”  That  is  what  might  be  said  and 
done  with  any  other  business,  and  the  status  of  the  trade  is 
untouched. 


FROM  LICENSE  TO  PROHIBITION. 


359 


Second.  Government  says  to  the  liquor  traffic : " You 
destroy  much  good.  You  are  a crime.  I will  partially 
suppress  you.  I will  totally  prohibit  all  but  one  man  in 
a thousand  from  selling  at  all.  I will  consent  that  one  man 
in  a thousand  shall  sell,  but  he  must  give  me  a part  of  the 
money.  I will  license  him  to  sell,  for  a fee  which  he  will 
take  out  of  his  customers.  I will  be  very  strict  with  him 
also.  He  shall  not  commit  this  crime  on  Sunday  nor  poison 
children  under  ten  years  of  age  in  his  own  store.”  That  is 
a license ; it  does  not  read  very  well,  but  it  is  really  an 
advance  over  the  first  position.  It  is  better  than  nothing, 
because  it  concedes  that  the  business  is  a crime,  — other- 
wise it  could  not  be  interfered  with  for  its  restriction  at  all. 

Third.  The  government  sa}*s  to  the  traffic : " You  are  a 
murderer  and  you  must  die.”  That  is  prohibition,  and  it  is 
right.  Free  rum?  — Never!  Licensed  rum?  — Never! 
when  possible  to  do  better.  And  remember  that  it  is  always 
possible  to  do  better.  Why  not  return  to  the  old  practice  of 
licensing:  or  condoning;  everv  crime  whatever  for  cash? 

In  licensing,  and  far  more  in  permitting  without  restric- 
tion, the  traffic  in  alcohol,  we  do  license  almost  every  known 
crime  and  form  of  public  evil  by  wholesale,  for  this  traffic  is 
their  primal  cause.  In  the  chapters  upon  " National  Pro- 
hibition ” and  "What  Shall  We  Do  Next?”  I have  called 
attention  to  the  reasons  why  the  so-called  prohibitory  laws 
have  partially  failed,  and  will  not  here  repeat  what  is  there 
said.  These  laws  have  been  by  far  the  most  successful 
of  any  wre  have  ever  had  for  the  suppression  of  the  evils  of 
intemperance,  and  they  were  never  repealed  by  those  who 
desired  their  stricter  enforcement.  No  law  has  ever  been 
substituted  for  them  which  was  enforced  any  better,  or  in 
fact  as  well.  No  license  law  was  ever  substituted  for  a 
prohibitory  law  under  which  the  traffic  did  not  increase. 
If  a prohibitory  law  gives  us  free  rum  how  can  a license 
law  restrain  it?  One  becomes  tired  of  the  foolishness  which 
teaches  that  license  is  restraint.  There  seems  to  be  no  way 
to  learn  save  by  experience,  and,  after  many  days,  the  whole 
country  will  apply  prohibition  as  the  only  remedy  for  evils 
which  should  not  exist,  and  which  the  people  sincerely  desire 
to  destroy. 


360 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


Prohibition  is  not  a new  rule  although,  from  the  nature 
of  things,  it  is  the  onty  one  which  can  result  in  prevention, 
and  destroy  the  traffic.  Its  imperfect  application  is  the  only 
possible  reason  of  failure,  and  it  is  singular  reasoning  which 
demands  the  abandonment  of  the  best  remedy  in  disease 
because  it  has  not  been  administered  to  the  patient. 

The  Emperor  of  China,  2207  years  B.  C.,  forbade  the 
manufacture  and  drinking  of  intoxicating  liquor,  under  the 
severest  penalties,  and  even  renounced  its  use  himself.  The 
Emperor  Claudius  suppressed  drinking  houses  and  the  sale 
of  liquor.  The  prohibition  of  the  sale  of  ardent  spirits  was 
maintained  in  Sweden  from  1753  to  1756,  and  from  1772  to 
1775.  In  1637,  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts,  and  in 
1676  the  New  Constitution  of  Virginia,  applied,  in  part,  the 
principle  of  prohibition  to  the  traffic  in  strong  drink ; and  so 
on  until  the  present  time  the  right  of  the  law-making  power 
to  prohibit  has  been  asserted  and  vindicated  over  and  over 
again.  It  is  not  possible,  nor  would  it  be  profitable,  to 
review  the  history  of  legislation  upon  the  subject  in  this 
work.  That  has  been  exhaustively  done  by  Dr.  Eddy  and 
many  others.  But  the  principle  has  been  always  success- 
fully applied,  whether  by  States  throughout  their  entire 
jurisdiction,  or  in  sections  and  localities,  in  the  form  of 
what  are  known  as  local  option  laws,  whenever  and  so  far  as 
its  application  has  been  honestly  and  judiciously  attempted. 
All  prohibitory  laws  necessarily  fail  in  part,  and  will  con- 
tinue to  fail  until  they  are  enacted  by  authority  having  com- 
plete jurisdiction  and  power  over  the  evil  against  which  they 
are  directed. 

It  is  often  admitted  that  prohibition  is  good  for  the 
country  rather  than  license  and  free  rum ; but  not  for  the 
city.  Wlrp?  — because  it  can  be  enforced,  it  is  said,  in 
the  country,  but  can  not  be  enforced  in  the  city.  "What  is 
it,  then,  in  which  the  good  consists?  In  the  prevention,  if  it 
can  be  secured,  in  the  curtailing  or  destruction  of  the  traffic. 
Then  the  only  question  is,  Which  is  the  best  s}Tstem,  prohi- 
bition or  license,  to  secure  the  end  in  the  city?  It  being 
conceded  that  prohibition  is  the  thing  that  is  good  in  any 
event.  Why  cannot  prohibition  be  enforced  in  the  city? 
Murder  takes  place  in  the  city.  Is  it  therefore  either 


THE  SALOON  AND  THE  REPUBLIC. 


361 


licensed  or  permitted  any  more  than  in  the  country?  On 
the  contrary,  the  greater  the  evil  or  the  more  rife  and 
dangerous  the  crime  the  more  strict  the  law,  and  the  more 
stern  should  be  the  execution.  Why  is  martial  law  declared 
in  times  of  turbulence  or  war?  If  ordinary  methods  and 
tribunals  will  not  enforce  the  law  against  the  liquor  traffic,  it 
may  become  a reason  for  declaring  martial  law  in  the  cities, 
but  not  lor  the  repeal  of  the  law  and  the  license  of  the  trade 
in  death.  The  one  city  of  New  York  is  now  doing  more  to 
destroy  the  American  people  than  the  whole  Southern  con- 
federacy accomplished  from  1861  to  1865. 

Indeed,  the  cities  of  our  countiy  are  almost  built  upon  a 
framework  of  saloons,  and  everywhere  the  word  saloon  has 
come  to  be  nearly  synonymous  with  the  liquor  traffic,  so 
that  the  anti-saloon  movement,  so  called,  is,  when  the  term  is 
properly  used,  but  another  name  for  the  temperance  movement 
itself.  The  general  inclination  to  hold  that  the  city  should  not 
be  subjected  to  laws  of  equal  stringency  with  the  rural  dis- 
tricts because  of  the  greater  difficulty  of  enforcement  in  the 
cities,  when  that  same  difficulty  is  the  strongest  reason  for 
the  severest  possible  prohibitions,  inclines  me  to  pause  for  a 
few  pages  to  note  the  effect  of  license  laws  as  illustrated  in 
the  chief  city  of  the  country.  There  is  nothing  like  history, 
because  it  " teaches  by  example.”  The  dangerous  character 
of  the  saloon,  which  finds  in  the  city  its  natural  home,  has 
never  been  better  stated  than  by  the  Hon.  William  Windom 
in  his  Woodstock  speech  delivered  on  the  fourth  day  of  last 
July  at  Mr.  Bowen’s  celebration.  He  says  : 

THE  SALOON  IS  A MOST  DANGEROUS  ENEMY  TO  THE 
REPUBLIC. 

" The  home  and  the  ballot  are  the  very  corner-stones  on 
which  our  free  institutions  rest ; the  very  holy  of  holies 
behind  the  sacred  altars  of  Freedom.  Destroy  the  one  or 
corrupt  the  other,  and  free  government  is  a failure.  The 
liquor  saloon  aims  its  deadly  blows  at  both.  If  the  hopes  of 
our  fathers  and  our  own  ambition  for  this  great  republic 
are  to  lie  realized,  we  must  protect  and  cherish  the  myriads 
of  homes,  where  children  are  daily  taught  those  lessons  of 
Christianity,  liberty,  justice  and  forbearance,  which  alone 


362 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


will  qualify  them  for  the  sacred  trust  of  citizenship.  "What- 
ever else  the  liquor  saloons  have  done,  they  have  never  made 
one  happy  Christian  home,  and  they  never  -will.  On  the 
other  hand,  they  have  created  unnumbered  thousands  of 
places  misnamed  homes,  where  the  seeds  of  disorder  and 
anarchy  are  daily  planted  and  nourished  in  the  minds  and 
hearts  of  the  young.  These  desecrated  homes  are  the 
primary  schools  in  which  are  taught,  by  precept  and  example, 
the  first  lessons  in  disorder  and  crime,  while  the  saloons 
themselves  are  the  colleges  from  which  the  most  dangerous 
order  of  criminals  are  graduated.  They  stand  open  night 
and  day  — Sundays  included  — ready  to  receive  the  myriads 
of  poor,  ignorant . and  misguided  'wretches  whose  childhood, 
blighted  in  the  drunkard’s  home,  makes  them  the  ready 
victims  to  the  teachers  of  disorder,  socialism  and  anarchy, 
who  here  find  their  council-chamber  and  their  inspiration. 
I verily  believe  that  if  the  saloon  were  abolished,  the  dan- 
gerous classes  which  now  menace  society  would  to  a great 
extent  disappear  with  it.  What,  think  you,  would  become 
of  the  anarchist  and  socialist  without  his  ally  and  assistant? 
Where  would  he  rally1'  his  forces?  Where  would  he  teach 
his  treason?  Where  would  he  find  inspiration  for  his  fol- 
lowers? The  saloon  system  is  itself  a league  of  law-break- 
ers, whose  example  affords  a most  powerful  stimulus  to 
disorder  of  all  kinds.  It  openly  proclaims  its  purpose 
to  disobey  all  laws  which  interfere  with  its  supreme  pur- 
pose to  make  money  in  its  own  way , and  at  whatever 
sacrifice. 

" Briefly  stated,  the  question  is,  Shall  the  liquor  power, 
with  its  dire  and  deadly  influences,  rule  and  ruin,  or  shall  it 
be  utterly  destroyed  ? 

"This  malign  power  has  organized  and  massed  its  mighty 
forces  for  the  conflict.  It  has  raised  the  black  flag,  and 
proclaimed  that  he  who  will  not  swear  allegiance  to  it,  and 
thereby  become  particeps  criminis  in  its  work  of  destruc- 
tion and  death,  shall  politically  perish.  It  has  even  drawn 
the  assassin’s  knife,  and  lighted  the  torch  of  the  incendiary, 
in  order  to  inspire  dismay  in  the  ranks  of  its  enemies.  The 
time  has  therefore  come  when  this  issue  must  be  met. 
Political  parties  can  no  longer  dodge  it  if  they  would. 


NEW  YORK,  CITY  OF  SALOONS. 


3 03 


Private  citizens  must  take  sides  openly,  for  or  against  the 
saloon,  with  its  methods  and  its  results.” 

The  frightful  prevalence  of  the  drink  traffic  in  our  cities, 
where  license  laws  almost  universally  prevail,  with  the  accom- 
panying ignorance,  poverty,  degradation,  vice  and  crime, 
and  the  corresponding  danger  to  our  existence,  not  only  as  a 
nation  but  also  as  a people,  is  the  chief  source  of  alarm  to 
the  thoughtful  patriotism  of  our  country  ; and  in  all  civilized 
countries  from  like  causes  the  cities  are  the  primary  sources 
of  peril.  In  our  own  the  danger  is  peculiarly  imminent,  by 
reason  of  the  popular  nature  of  our  institutions. 

Says  Joseph  Cook  : " Under  a thoroughly  free  government 
the  extension  of  the  suffrage  to  ignorant  and  intemperate  pop- 
idations  inevitably  places  the  scoundrel  class  at  the  head  of 
affairs.  A drunken  people  can  not  be  a free  people.” 

The  eye  is  the  chief  inlet  to  knowledge,  and  the  map  of  New 
York  city  which  accompanies  this  book,  upon  which  are  lo- 
cated over  9000  of  the  10,168  saloons  and  places  where  intox- 
icating liquor  was  for  sale  in  that  metropolis  on  the  thirtieth 
day  of  June,  1886,  looks  like  a chart  of  the  capital  city  of  the 
regions  of  despair.  When  we  consider  that  this  great  city  con- 
trols the  pivotal  State  of  the  Union,  and  how  helplessly  it 
drifts  in  the  maelstrom  of  alcohol,  we  require  more  than  the 
faith  which  removes  mountains  if  we  are  still  to  hope  for  the 
republic.  Whoever  continues  to  hope  — and  not  only  do  we 
hope,  but  we  will  conquer  yet  — must  have  the  courage  to  at- 
tack and  destroy  this  plague.  Here  is  the  license  law  in  full 
operation.  Behold  its  blessings ! If  the  licenses  cost  still 
more,  the  city  would  for  a time  get  a larger  share  of  the  blood- 
money,  and  capitalists  might  consolidate  the  smaller  saloons 
in  more  enticing  quarters.  And,  despairing  to  save  the  mass, 
there  are  many  able,  sincere  and  practical  men  who  demand 
restrictive  high  license  in  the  hope  that  they  thereby  may 
save  some.  But  the  appetite  will  remain  the  same,  the 
supply  the  same,  and,  after  a spasmodic  contraction  perhaps, 
the  consumption  will  be  the  same  or  greater.  The  higher 
license  will  soon  demonstrate  that  it  is  nothing  but  a new 
bandage  for  the  same  putrescent  bod}r.  If  it  must  be  in 
order  that  the  people  may  see,  let  it  be  done ; yet  I can  but 
think  that  such  waste  of  time  is  only  made  necessary  by 


364 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


failure  to  note  the  lessons  of  hundreds  of  years  of  experience, 
and  by  ignoring  the  plain  teachings  of  natural  reason.  Mean- 
while who  is  to  shoulder  the  responsibility  of  the  years  of 
crime  and  misery  in  which  the  thrice-told  tale  is  to  be  once 
more  repeated?  How  many  times  must  it  be  proved  that 
two  and  two  are  four?  Are  we  to  travel  in  this  fool’s  tread- 
mill forever?  The  whole  country  can  control  the  cities. 
Try  national  as  well  as  State  prohibition,  and  when  they  fail, 
and  not  till  then,  fall  back  upon  high  license,  or,  more  logi- 
cally, upon  free  rum. 

The  Church  Temperance  Society  of  Hew  York  has  just 
issued  a pamphlet  entitled  " Xew  York  CittT  and  its  Masters,” 
prepared  by  Mr.  Robert  Graham,  General  Secretary.  Mr. 
Graham  was  formerly  Secretary  of  the  Church  of  England 
Temperance  Society,  but  now  devotes  his  great  ability,  with  a 
zeal  and  courage  which  command  our  admiration  and  grati- 
tude, to  a stand-up  hand-to-hand  fight  with  the  liquor  traffic 
in  our  own  country. 

"Xew  York  Citjr  and  its  Masters”  contains  a series  of  maps 
with  accompanying  letter-press  showing  the  number  of  saloons 
and  their  location,  together  with  the  churches  and  public 
schools,  in  each  Assembly  district.  By  the  courtes}r  of  Mr. 
Graham  I have  availed  myself  of  the  following  facts  from  this 
work,  but  hope  the  reader  will  obtain  the  original.  By  the 
courtesy  of  the  Board  of  Excise  Commissioners,  Mr.  Graham 
obtained  the  following  " carefully  verified  statement  of  licenses 
granted  year  ending  April  30,  1886 


First  grade,  hotel,  license  fee,  8250, 17 

Second  grade,  hotel,  license  fee,  8100, 80 

Third  grade,  saloon,  license  fee,  875, 8055 

Fourth  grade,  storekeeper  (sale  off),  license  fee,  875,  . 518 

Fifth  grade,  saloon  (beer  only),  license  fee,  830,  . . 904 


Total  license  granted, 9574 

Humber  lapsed  or  revoked  during  the  year,  ....  406 


Humber  now  in  existence, 9168 

Estimated  number  of  places  selling  without  license, 
disreputable  and  gambling  houses  where  liquor  is 
sold,  . . . . T . . 1000 


Total  number  of  places  where  liquor  is  obtained,  . . 10,168 


NEW  l'OKIv,  CITY  OF  SALOONS. 


3G5 


The  population  of  New  York  was  by  the  census  of  1880 
1,206,239,  of  whom  727,629  are  native  and  478,670  foreign- 
born.  Estimating  the  present  population  at  1,400,000,  we 
have  a liquor  saloon  to  every  140  persons,  including  men, 
women  and  children.  The  whole  number  of  churches  and 
chapels  is  447,  of  public  schools  121,  and  "total  good  educa- 
tional agencies  568.” 

But  the  real  condition  is  much  worse  than  even  this  start- 
ling average  of  the  whole  city  would  indicate.  The  evil  is 
unequally  distributed.  It  has  its  victims  byr  Assembly  dis- 
tricts, just  as  particular  men  are  destroyed  by  it.  In  the 
First  Assembly  District  there  are  43,998  inhabitants,  13 
churches,  3 schools  and  1072  saloons;  being  one  church 
to  3384  of  population,  or  accommodations  to  about  one 
person  in  six;  one  school  to  14,666,  and  a saloon  to 
every  41  of  the  people.  The  Second  Assembly  District 
has  47,958  population,  4 churches,  9 schools  and  511 
saloons.  It  may  be  hoped  that  parochial  or  private  schools 
help  this  somewhat,  but  not  substantially.  Mr.  Graham 
observes,  "It  is  an  undoubted  fact  that  just  where  the 
poverty  and  misery  is  greatest  there  is  the  largest  number 
of  saloons.” 

The  saloon  is  without  doubt  the  great  visible  factor  of 
danger  in  our  government.  The  anti-saloon  movement  is 
an  effort  to  destroy  it  with  any  and  every  kind  of  available 
weapon,  and  to  utilize  the  activity  of  everybody  who  will  even 
wish  death  to  the  saloon,  although  they  will  only  pelt  the  rude 
boy  in  the  apple-tree  with  tufts  of  grass,  hoping  that  in  due 
time  the  impotency  of  such  warfare  may  induce  them  to 
throw  the  stones  of  total  prohibition. 

Mr.  Graham  has  the  following  table,  obtained  with 
great  care  and  labor  " by  personal  investigation  in  each 
particular  case  by  a committee  of  our  Calvary  branch,  the 
documents  for  their  verification  being  in  their  hands,”  show- 
ing the  "places  where  primary  and  convention  meetings 
were  held  preceding  the  elections  of  November,  1884.” 
(See  p.  37  of  " New  York  City  and  its  Masters.”)  If 
the  American  people  would  study  this  table,  which  I feel 
sure  to  be  of  unquestionable  verity,  then  patriotic  men 
might  thank  God  and  take  courage  in  the  hope  of  a moral 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


3G6 

and  political  convulsion  which  would  set  us  free  from  this 
wicked  domination. 


PRIMARY  AND  CONVENTION  MEETINGS  HELD  IN  NEW7  YORK 
CITY  PRECEDING  THE  NOVEMBER  ELECTION  OF  1SS4. 


LIQUOR  SALOONS. 

NEXT  DOOR  TO 
SALOONS. 

NEITHER. 

Tammany  Hall. 

| Irving  Hull. 

County  Democracy. 

Republican. 

Total. 

| Irving  Hall. 

County  Democracy. 

O 

Total. 

= 

o 

o 

o 

O 

| 

o 

Congressional  Convention, 

G 

7 

G 

19 

1 

1 

3 

3 

G 

Assembly  Convention, . . 

17 

18 

19 

9 

G3 

3 

1 

3 

7 

7 

3 

4 

12 

2G 

Aldermanic  Convention,  . 

17 

19 

19 

9 

G4 

| 

3 

1 

3 

7 

7 

2 

4 

12 

25 

Primaries 

1G 

19 

443 

9 

4S7 

3 

G5 

3 

71 

8 

2 

201 

12 

226 

Totals  .... 

5G 

03 

487 

27 

G33 

10 

07 

9 

80 

25 

7 

215 

3G 

2S3 

Political  Meetings  held  in  Saloon C33 

Political  Meetings  held  next  door  to  Saloon SO 

719 

Political  Meetings  held  apart  from  Saloons 283 

Total 1,002 


In  a communication  from  the  Commissioner  of  Internal 
Revenue,  dated  September  21,  1887,  he  informs  me  that  the 
" production  of  fermented  liquors  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
as  shown  by  returns  made  to  this  office  for  the  year  ended 
August  31,  1887,  aggregates  3,799,032  barrels  of  31  gallons 
each.” 

This  is  117,769,992  gallons,  and  I am  assured  by  a com- 
petent observer  that  the  consumption  of  this  enormous  amount 
or  its  equivalent  takes  place  chiefly  on  Manhattan  Island  — an 
average  of  eighty-four  gallons  to  each  man,  woman  and  child 
in  the  city.  It  is  true  that  much  of  it  is  consumed  b}'  travel- 
ers and  transient  persons,  but  in  any  view  it  gives  one  an 
almost  sublime  conception  of  the  capacity  of  the  great  throat 
of  intemperance  in  America.  About  twelve  hundred  heavily 
loaded  double  wagons,  drawn  by  two,  four  and  sometimes 
six  horses,  convey  the  deluge  from  the  breweries  to  the 


- - 

Mrs . Sarah  D.  La  Fctra , 

President  If  r.  C.  2\  If.,  District  of  Columbia . 


NEW  YORK  RULES  AMERICA. 


367 


lowei  part  of  the  city  daily,  for  the  supply  of  the  infernal 
maelstrom.  Says  my  friend  Mr.  U.  H.  Painter,  who  writes 
of  it : " It  don’t  burn  up  men’s  bodies  and  souls  as  fast  as 

vitriol,  but  it  does  just  as  surely;  the  horses  are  the  finest 
in  the  world,  the  drivers  fat  and  sleek ; the  owners  live  in 
palaces,  on  the  fat  of  the  land.  The  men  and  women  who 
pay  tor  it  are  gaunt  and  always  hungry  ; they  live  in  poverty 
— hope  has  no  abiding  place  there  ; the  poison  lures  them  to 
crime,  to  infamy,  to  hell.  No  man  can  strike  them  too  hard. 
Lay  on  the  lash.  It  is  the  crying  shame  of  the  world,  the 
canker-worm  of  society,  the  skeleton  that  walks  everywhere, 
day  and  night,  and  sleeps  not ; it  is  Dante’s  ' Inferno  ’ here 
Marino;  at  us  all ! ” 

Beyond  all  this  are  the  still  greater  ravages  of  distillation. 

NEW  YORK  CITY  RULES  AMERICA  TO-DAY. 

Only  the  nation  can  emancipate  itself — if  indeed  it  be  not 
alread}r  too  late.  Look  again  at  the  map  ; consider  the  rela- 
tion of  New  York  to  the  whole  country  and  the  relation  of  our 
country  to  the  world.  What  can  license  do  in  such  a case  ? A 
teaspoonful  dose  of  soothing-s3'rup  to  a volcano  in  full  erup- 
tion ! What  local  option?  No  more  — even  less.  What 
can  prohibition  by  the  State  ? That  is  only  local  option  by 
States,  and  New  York  City  is  a great  cancer  with  deadly  roots 
in  every  State  and  Territory  in  the  Union.  So  Chicago,  St. 
Louis,  San  Francisco,  Philadelphia,  Cincinnati,  Boston  — all 
great  commercial  cities — are  great  national  cancers,  and  can 
be  reached,  if  at  all,  onl}r  b}r  national  cure.  You  may  give 
hypodermic  injections  on  any  part  of  the  surface  of  the  body  ; 
that  is  what  we  have  done  so  far.  It  relieves  pain,  but  it 
does  not  cure ; and  if  we  continue  as  hitherto,  our  descend- 
ants will,  if  the  race  survives,  be  repeating  our  follies  and 
failures  a thousand  years  hence.  This  need  not  be.  Good 
people  must  give  their  liquor  up.  Until  they  do,  bad  people 
will  have  theirs  ; and  in  this  the  bad  people  are  right.  High 
license  — any  restrictive  license  — is  a contrivance  to  give 
good,  well-to-do  people  their  liquor  in  a respectable  way, 
while  the  poor  and  the  bad  are  to  be  compelled  by  law  to 
practice  a virtue  which  the  former  will  not.  Self-denial  is 
the  essence  of  the  genuine  temperance  movement ; and  self- 


368 


TIIE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


denial  by  the  whole  of  society  must  be  the  spirit  of  all  suc- 
cessful temperance  legislation,  as  it  is  of  individual  reform. 

Hear  Dr.  Talmadge  thunder  against  license,  and  especially 
high  license  : 

" Do  you  not  realize,  as  by  mathematical  demonstration, 
that  the  one  result  of  this  high-license  movement,  and  the  one 
result  of  the  closing  of  small  establishments  — if  that  were 
the  result  — and  the  opening  of  a few  large  establishments, 
will  be  to  make  rum-selling  and  rum-drinking  highly  respect- 
able? These  drinkeries  in  Brooklyn  and  New  York  are  so 
disgusting  that  a man  will  not  risk  his  reputation  by  going 
into  them Now,  suppose  all  these  small  establish- 

ments are  closed  up,  and  that  then  you  open  the  palaces  of 
inebriation  down  on  the  avenues.  It  is  not  the  rookeries 
of  alcoholism  that  do  the  worst  work ; the}'  are  only  the  last 
stopping-places  on  the  road  to  death.  Where  did  that 
bloated,  ulcerous,  wheezing  wretch,  that  staggers  out  of  a 
rum-hole,  get  his  habits  started?  At  a glittering  restaurant, 
or  bar-room  of  a first-class  hotel,  where  it  was  fashionable  to 
go I say,  give  us  the  rash,  rather  than  the  carbun- 

cles. Here  you  will  have  a splendid  liquor  establishment  : 
.Masterpieces  of  painting  on  the  wall;  cut-glass  on  the  silver 

platter:  upholstery  like  a Turkish  harem All  the 

phantasmagoria  and  bewitchment  of  art  thrown  around  this 
Herod  of  massacre,  this  Moloch  of  consumed  worshippers, 
this  Juggernaut  of  crushed  millions  ! Do  you  not  see  that 
this  high-license  movement  strikes  at  the  heart  of  the  best 
homes  in  America?  ....  Tell  it  to  all  the  philanthropists 
who  are  trying  to  make  the  world  better,  and  let  journalists 
tell  it,  by  pen  and  by  type,  that  this  day,  in  the  presence  of 
my  Maker  and  my  Judge,  I stamp  on  this  high-license  move- 
ment as  the  monopoly  of  abomination.” 

But  to  return  from  this  practical  illustration  of  the  ruinous 
work  of  license  laws.  The  law  should  everywhere  declare 
that  there  can  be  no  property  in  alcohol  which  is  designed  to 
be  used  as  a beverage,  and  decree  its  destruction  just  as 
slavery'  was  abolished,  because  there  can  be  no  property  in 
man.  Certainly'  the  destruction  without  compensation  should 
be  decreed  for  all  alcoholic  beverages  created  after  the  enact- 
ment of  prohibitory  law.  If  there  can  be  no  property  in 


piioiiibition  pkoiiibits. 


369 


man,  and  therefore  there  shall  be  no  slavery,  then  certainly 
that  which  is  designed  onty  for  the  injury  of  man,  and  which 
is  created  illegally,  should  not  be  protected  bjr  law. 

I admit  that  it  would  be  proper  to  destroy  the  public 
enem}g  by  the  administration  of  alcohol ; but  for  the  reason 
that  he  is  the  public  enemy,  and  for  no  other,  and  then  only 
when  the  use  of  poison  is  justifiable. 

The  good  use  — the  medicinal  use  — is  justified  because  a 
poison  is  necessary  to  an  abnormal  state  of  things  — to 
alleviate  or  cure  a snake  bite,  a disease,  or  a wound,  just  as, 
to  follow  the  analogy,  involuntary  servitude  and  confinement, 
and  still  further  interference  with  personal  liberty,  is  inflicted 
upon  the  criminal,  even  unto  death. 

But  why  should  society  permit  the  infliction  upon  itself  — 
and  upon  its  own  innocent  members  who  are  entitled  to  pro- 
tection b}r  the  very  nature  of  social  and  civil  relations  and  obli- 
gations, the  same  or  greater  evils  than  the  penalties  of  crime, 
and,  in  fact,  the  very  crimes  themselves.  It  is  high  time 
that  society  learned  that  its  first  obligation  is  not  to  punish 
criminals,  but  to  eradicate  the  causes  of  crime.  Bemove  the 
•causes  which  create  criminals,  and  there  will  be  neither 
criminals  nor  crimes.  Society  does  whatever  it  permits  its 
individual  members  to  do.  If  society,  having  power  to  pre- 
vent or  to  restrict,  creates,  or  permits  its  members  to  create 
that  substance  or  influence,  whatever  it  may  be,  but  for  the 
existence  of  which  there  would  be  less  of  disease,  suffering, 
or  crime,  it  fails  in  its  duty,  in  the  very  end  for  which 
society  organizes  and  establishes  government ; and  thus 
becomes  itself  a criminal.  And  because  it  is  thus  ignorant 
and  criminal,  penalties  inevitable,  inexorable  and  terrible 
are  inflicted  upon  society  by  the  Almighty,  in  the  administra- 
tion of  his  outraged  laws. 

To  one  who  has  lived  in  a State  or  section  of  the  country 
where  both  the  prohibitory  law  and  the  opposing  legislation 
have  been  fairly  tried  in  contrast  with  each  other,  the  sole- 
cism that  " prohibition  does  not  prohibit  ” is  an  absurdity. 
I know  from  my  own  observation  and  memory,  and  from 
careful  inquiry  in  Vermont  and  Maine,  of  the  great  transfor- 
mation wrought  by  the  Maine  law  in  those  States  where  it 
has  been  longest  and  most  thoroughly  tried,  notwithstanding 
24 


370 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


the  disadvantages  under  which  its  administration  has  labored, 
by  reason  of  the  hostile  position  of  the  general  government, 
of  the  traffic,  and  of  other  influences,  that  drunkenness  has 
been  almost  abolished  from  the  rural  population,  and  greatly 
restrained  in  the  cities  by  the  influence  of  that  beneficent 
enactment.  Gov.  Dingley  of  Maine  is  one  of  the  most 
competent  of  witnesses  on  this  subject,  and  I will  quote  a 
few  sentences  of  what  he  has  said  of  the  operation  of  the  law 
in  that  State  : 

"In  1830,  thirteen  distilleries  in  the  State  manufactured 
one  million  gallons  of  rum  (two  gallons  to  each  inhabitant), 
together  with  300,000  gallons  imported  — not  including 
cider  and  other  imported  liquors.  Now  there  is  not  a brew- 
ery or  distillery  in  the  State.  In  1833,  there  were  five 
hundred  taverns,  all  but  fort}'  of  them  having  open  bars. 
Now  there  is  not  a tavern  in  the  State  with  an  open  bar,  and 
not  one  in  ten  of  them  sells  liquor  secretly.  In  1830  every 
store  sold  liquor  as  freely  as  molasses ; now  not  one. 

"In  1832,  with  a population  of  only  450,000,  there  were 
2000  places  where  intoxicating  liquors  were  sold  — one  grog- 
shop to  every  225  of  population.  Their  sales  amounted  to 
$10,000,000  annually,  or  $20  for  each  inhabitant.  Last 
year  the  average  sale  of  a hundred  town  agencies  was  $100,- 
000,  or  fifteen  cents  per  inhabitant.  Including  clandestine 
sales,  even  the  enemies  of  temperance  do  not  claim  that  the 
aggregate  sales  in  the  State  exceed  $1,000,000,  less  than  $2 
per  inhabitant.  This  is  but  one-tenth  of  what  they  were 
forty  years  ago,  and  one-eighth  of  what  they  are  on  the  aver- 
age in  the  remainder  of  the  Union,  which  is  $16  per  inhabi- 
tant. Liquor  selling  is  almost  wholly  confined  to  the  five  or 
six  cities  of  the  State,  so  that  hard  drinkers  are  compelled  to 
journey  thither  for  their  drams.  Hence,  most  of  the  drunk- 
enness of  the  State  is  concentrated  in  those  cities,  where  the 
police  arrest  all  persons  under  the  influence  of  strong  drink, 
making  the  number  of  arrests  for  drunkenness  seem  large  in 
comparison  with  places  where  few  arrests  are  made  for  this 
offense.  In  1855  there  were  10,000  persons  (one  out  of 
every  45  of  the  population)  accustomed  to  get  beastly 
drunk  ; there  were  200  deaths  from  delirium  tremens  annu- 
ally (equivalent  to  300  now)  ; there  were  1500  paupers 


Gen.  Clinton  B.  Fisk , 

of  A~e:o  Jersey. 


PROHIBITION  PROHIBITS. 


371 


(equivalent  to  2200  now)  made  thus  by  drink ; there  were 
300  convicts  in  State  prison  and  jails  (equivalent  to  45Q 
now)  ; and  intemperance  was  destroying  a large  proportion 
of  the  homes  throughout  the  State.  Now  not  one  in  300  of 
the  population  is  a drunkard  — not  one-sixth  as  many  ; the- 
deaths  from  delirium  tremens  annually  are  not  fifty,  and. 
criminals  and  paupers  (not  including  rumsellers)  are  largely 
reduced,  notwithstanding  the  great  influx  of  foreigners  and. 
tramps.” 

This  testimony  can  be  corroborated  ly  the  whole  State  if 
necessary,  and  is  but  a fair  statement  of  the  effect  of  the  law  in 
New  Hampshire  and  in  Vermont.  New  Hampshire  has  been 
specially  hindered  in  the  enforcement  of  the  law  by  the  un- 
fortunate habits  of  her  great  accessions  of  foreign  population. 
If  the  law  had  been  left  to  operate  upon  our  native  popula- 
tion since  its  enactment  in  1855,  I do  not  believe  that  there 
would  have  been  one-tenth  of  the  intemperance  which  now 
exists.  But  with  increasing  intelligence  the  personal  habits 
of  the  people  are  sure  to  improve,  and  the  measures  adopted 
to  extirpate  this  crying  evil  by  a better  enforcement  of  the 
prohibitory  law  are  sure  to  become  more  and  more  rather 
than  less  stringent.  I do  not  think  that  during  the  whole 
thirty-two  years  during  which  the  prohibitory  law  has  stood 
upon  the  statute  book  of  the  State,  it  was  ever  so  impregna- 
bl}r  fortified  in  the  confidence  and  even  affection  of  the  peo- 
ple as  now,  and  he  would  be  a rash  man  who  would  propose, 
and  that  political  party  would  commit  suicide  which  should 
seriously  attempt  its  repeal.  It  is  above  the  domain  of  party 
contention.  We  do  not  repeal  the  law  against  murder. 
We  enforce  it.  So  should  and  so  will  the  people  yet 
enforce  the  laws  now  existing  and  hereafter  to  be  enacted 
prohibiting  the  main  cause  of  murder  and  of  every  other 


crime. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


NATIONAL  PROHIBITION. 


No  other  Form  of  Real  Prohibition  Possible  — Control  the  Traffic  from 
Origin  to  End  — Necessity  of  Exerting  the  National  Power  — National 
Prohibition  the  Plan  of  Battle  — Prohibition  Amendment  to  National 
Constitution  Presented  in  1876  — Its  Provisions  Noted  — The  Subject 
Discussed  from  the  National  Stand-point — ’Manufacture  as  well  as 
Sale  must  be  Prohibited  — The  Temperance  Reform  most  needs 
Nationalization — Concentrate  on  National  Prohibitory  Amendment 
to  Constitution  — Right  and  Necessity  of  National  Legislation  Dis- 
cussed — The  Amendment  Reviewed  — State  Prohibition  and  National 
Prohibition  Together  — National  Prohibitory  Amendment  should  be 
the  Preliminary  Bunker  Hill,  not  the  Crowning  Yorktown. 

HAVE  elsewhere  endeavored  to  show  that  government 


should  take  jurisdiction  of  the  liquor  traffic  and  that 


prohibition  is  the  only  effective  way  in  which  that  jurisdic- 
tion can  be  asserted. 

Assuming,  for  the  purposes  of  the  argument,  that  law 
should  prohibit  the  traffic,  I desire,  in  this  chapter,  to  call 
attention  to  the  necessity  and  to  the  proper  method  of 
national  action,  if  any  essential  or  permanent  reform  is  to  be 
effected  through  the  agency  of  law. 

No  other  form  of  real  prohibition  is  possible.  Xo  pronib- 
itory  law  now  exists  or  ever  has  existed  in  this  country. 
None  has  existed  or  does  exist  or  can  exist  in  any  State. 
Xo  prohibitory  law  has  failed  to  prohibit,  for  there  can  be 
no  prohibitory  law  taking  jurisdiction  of  the  liquor  traffic 
unless  it  controls  it  from  origin  to  end  — from  the  point  of 
its  manufacture,  or  wherever  it  comes  within  our  borders, 
and  so  through  all  the  channels  of  distribution  to  the  stomach 
of  the  consumer.  Now,  it  is  a fact  that  from  the  foundation 
of  the  national  government  until  to-day  it  has  not  only  per- 
mitted, but  has  fostered  and  protected  the  traffic  in  alcoholic 
liquors. 

The  Constitution,  as  construed,  is  for  the  traffic,  and  the 
laws  are  made  and  enforced  in  pursuance  of  the  Constitution. 


372 


GOVERNMENT,  STATE  AND  NATIONAL. 


373 


I am  not  now  referring  to  the  comparatively  unimportant 
power  of  Congress  over  the  Territories  and  the  District  of 
Columbia,  which  may  affect  one-fortieth  of  our  people ; but 
to  the  relation  of  the  Constitution  and  the  laws  to  the  traffic 
in  the  States  where  the  mass  of  the  people  are  who  are 
ruined  by  it. 

Our  government  is  not  only  peculiar  in  this  that  it  is 
republican  in  form,  but  especially  so  in  the  distribution  of 
its  powers.  Such,  indeed,  have  been  the  origin,  growth  and 
final  combination  of  our  institutions  that  we  hardly  conceive 
of  the  government  in  its  true  nature.  From  the  force  of 
habits  of  thought,  and  forms  of  action  and  of  expression 
■which  we  continually  use  and  witness,  MTe  come  to  believe 
that  we  live  under  two  distinct  governments  at  the  same 
time,  which  is  an  impossibility. 

We  speak  of  the  national  government  and  of  the  State 
government.  Neither  is  the  government.  Each  is  a depart- 
ment or  branch  of  the  government,  which  comprises  them 
both,  and  by  the  union  of  both  is  itself  one.  The  American 
people  are  a unit,  a nation,  and  that  people  is  the  great 
fact  behind  both  State  and  national  or  general  forms,  who 
create  both,  each  with  separate,  generally  independent  but 
sometimes  concurrent  powers.  As  the  people  are  one  peo- 
ple, so  the  State  and  the  national  branches  spring,  not  either 
from  the  other,  but  from  the  same  root,  and  are  one  tree. 
Both  combined  have  only  the  same  powers  which  the  Eng- 
lish Parliament  possesses  alone.  The  powers  of  government 
being  divided  between  these  national  and  State  branches, 
there  are  some  things  which  each  can  perform  fully  without 
the  co-operation  of  the  other.  There  are  other  things  which, 
from  their  nature,  require  the  action  of  the  government 
itself,  as  a whole,  acting  by  and  through  both  State  and 
national  forms.  The  one  has  general  jurisdiction  of  local 
interests,  the  other  of  the  interests  of  individuals  and  of  the 
States  in  their  larger  relations  and  with  other  sovereignties. 
Yet  the  relation  of  the  individual  is  direct  to  each  branch  of 
the  government  in  its  proper  sphere.  This  peculiarity  ma}r 
be,  in  some  respects,  a ■weakness,  but,  on  the  -whole,  although 
it  may  diminish  velocity,  it  increases  strength,  and  is  the 
very  citadel  of  our  liberties.  If,  then,  there  be  an  interest 


374 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


or  an  evil  which  is  everywhere,  and  which  exists  and  is  felt 
by  each  individual  and  by  the  people  as  a whole,  in  all  the 
States  and  Territories  of  the  republic,  which  is,  in  short, 
national,  that  interest  or  that  evil  is  sure  to  require  the  pro- 
tection, regulation  or  prohibition  of  the  whole  power  of  the 
people,  exerted  through  both  the  State  and  national  divisions 
of  the  one  government. 

Such  an  interest,  if  it  be  an  interest,  or  such  an  evil,  if  it 
be  an  evil,  is  the  liquor  traffic. 

It  is  already  conceded  that  the  States  may  regulate,  license 
or  prohibit,  within  their  own  jurisdiction,  the  manufacture 
and  sale  of  liquors  for  home  consumption,  not  interfering 
with  it  when  coming  within  tlleir  borders  from  other  domes- 
tic  or  foreign  States  while  it  remains  and,  it  is  intended  that 
it  shall  remain,  in  the  original  packages. 

It  is,  then,  the  special  purpose  of  this  chapter  to  discuss 
the  necessity  of  the  assertion  of  national  power,  concurrent 
with  that  of  the  States,  for  the  extirpation  of  the  traffic,  if  it 
is  ever  to  be  extirpated,  and  the  enlargement  of  the  national 
powers  by  amendment  of  the  national  Constitution,  so  that 
the  whole  people  shall  summarily  and  forever  dispose  of  the 
evil,  without  waiting  for  the  tardy  action  or  stubborn  resist- 
ance  of  adverse  localities. 

In  my  humble  judgment,  the  temperance  reform  waits  on 
the  comprehension  of  this  thought,  and  will  practically  fail 
until  national  prohibition  is  adopted  as  the  plan  of  battle. 

Before  proceeding  to  a more  general  discussion  of  the 
subject  of  national  prohibition,  there  should  be  a word  of 
explanation  upon  the  forms  which  the  proposition  has  hith- 
erto assumed.  The  first  proposition  for  the  amendment  of 
the  national  Constitution  so  as  to  prohibit  the  traffic  in 
intoxicating  beverages,  so  far  as  I have  knowledge,  was 
introduced  by  myself  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
December  27,  1876.  The  joint  resolution  wras  in  the  fol- 
lowing words  and  wras  supported  by  a speech  of  considerable 
length.  I have  introduced  this  resolution  in  every  succeed- 
ing Congress,  and  it  was  favorably  reported  to  the  Senate  by 
the  Committee  on  Education  and  Labor  of  the  49th  Con- 
gress. This  resolution  proposes  an  absolute  affirmative  pro- 
hibition by  the  nation  of  the  traffic  in  distilled  alcoholic 


l 


NATIONAL  PROHIBITORY  AMENDMENT. 


375 


beverages  from  and  after  the  year  1900,  while  the  fermented 
drinks  are  left  to  the  regulation  of  the  States,  with  an 
enlargement  of  the  powers  ot  the  States  so  as  to  give  to 
them  absolute  control  ot  the  traffic  in  fermented  drinks 
within  their  own  jurisdiction,  free  from  the  protection  which 
the  national  government  now  extends  to  it.  in  the  regulation 

*—  O 

of  commerce  and  by  the  exercise  of  other  powers,  thus  prac- 
tically preventing  the  exercise  of  the  police  power  by  the 
State  against  the  evil  even  when  prohibition  is  attempted  by 
the  State. 

Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  in  Congress  assembled  ( two-tldrds  of 
each  House  concurring  therein ),  That  the  following  amendment  to 
the  Constitution  be,  and  hereby  is,  proposed  to  the  States,  to  be- 
come valid  when  ratified  by  the  Legislatures  of  three-fourths  of 
the  several  States,  as  provided  in  the  Constitution: 

article  — . 

Section  1.  From  and  after  the  year  of  our  Lord  1900  the 
manufacture  and  sale  of  distilled  alcoholic  intoxicating  liquors,  or 
alcoholic  liquors  any  part  of  which  is  obtained  by  distillation  or 
process  equivalent  thereto,  or  any  intoxicating  liquors  mixed 
or  adulterated  with  ardent  spirits,  or  with  any  poison  whatever, 
except  for  medicinal,  mechanical,  chemical  and  scientific  purposes, 
and  for  use  in  the  arts,  anywhere  within  the  United  States  and  the 
Territories  thereof,  shall  cease  ; and  the  importation  of  such  liquors 
from  foreign  states  and  countries  to  the  United  States  and  Terri- 
tories, and  the  exportation  of  such  liquors  from  and  the  transporta- 
tion thereof  within  and  through  any  part  of  this  country,  except 
for  the  use  and  purposes  aforesaid,  shall  be,  and  hereby  is,  forever 
thereafter  prohibited. 

Sec.  2.  Nothing  in  this  article  shall  be  construed  to  waive  or 
abridge  any  existing  power  of  Congress,  nor  the  right,  which  is 
hereby  recognized,  of  the  people  of  any  State  or  Territory  to  enact 
laws  to  prevent  the  increase  and  for  the  suppression  or  regulation 
of  the  manufacture,  sale  and  use  of  liquors,  and  the  ingredients 
thereof,  any  part  of  which  is  alcoholic,  intoxicating  or  poisonous, 
within  its  own  limits,  and  for  the  exclusion  of  such  liquors  and 
ingredients  therefrom  at  any  time,  as  well  before  as  after  the  close 
of  the  year  of  our  Lord  1900  ; but  until  then,  and  until  ten  years 
after  the  ratification  hereof,  as  provided  in  the  next  section,  no 
State  or  Territory  shall  interfere  with  the  transportation  of  said 
liquors  or  ingredients,  in  packages  safely  secured,  over  the  usual 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


on  r 

0 ( b 

lines  of  traffic  to  other  States  and  Territories  wherein  the  manu- 
facture, sale  and  use  thereof  for  other  purposes  and  use  than  those 
excepted  in  the  first  section  shall  be  lawful : Provided , That  the 
true  destination  of  such  packages  he  plainly  marked  thereon. 

Sec.  8.  Should  this  article  not  be  ratified  by  three-fourths  of 
the  States  on  or  before  the  last  day  of  December,  1890,  then  the 
first  section  hereof  shall  take  effect  and  be  in  force  at  the  expi- 
ration of  ten  years  from  such  ratification ; and  the  assent  of  any 
State  to  this  article  shall  not  be  rescinded  nor  reversed. 

Sec.  4.  Congress  shall  enforce  this  article  by  all  needful  legis- 
lation. 

The  prohibitory  sentiment  of  the  country  demands  that 
the  national  Constitution  be  so  amended  as  to  include  the 
absolute  inhibition  of  fermented,  as  well  as  of  distilled  bev- 
erages, and  the  astonishing  development  and  great  evils  of 
the  use  of  fermented  drinks,  and  the  ease  with  which  they 
are  now  fortified  with  pure  alcohol  and  other  drugs  and  poi- 
sons until  the  distinction  between  distilled  and  fermented 
liquors  is  lost,  justify  this  demand  of  the  earnest  friends  of 
prohibition.  In  unity  there  is  strength,  and  so  far  as  I can 

1 shall  contribute  to  that  end  by  supporting  the  more  com- 
prehensive restriction  of  this  nefarious  trade.  A successful 
result  may  or  may  not  be  longer  delayed,  but  there  will  be 
at  least  unity  of  action,  without  which  no  progress  whatever 
will  be  made.  In  the  advocacy  of  the  original  amendment 
I have  given  my  reasons  for  the  form  in  which  the  propo- 
sition was  made.  I had  hope  of  its  earlier  adoption  in  that 
form,  and  that  from  its  success  would  follow  the  destruction 
of  the  trade  in  fermented  as  well  as  in  distilled  drinks.  If 
experience  shall  vindicate  the  correctness  of  that  judgment, 
no  one  will  regret  it  more  than  myself.  In  the  50th  Congress 
I shall  introduce  the  proposed  amendment  for  the  absolute 
prohibition  by  the  nation  of  the  traffic  in  all  forms  of  alco- 
holic beverages,  and  trust  that  a long-suffering  people  will 
rise  in  their  might  for  its  adoption,  and  for  the  rescue  of  our 
civilization  from  the  monster's  grasp.  Let  us  now  proceed 
to  consider  the  necessity  of  the  national  prohibition  of  the 
traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks. 

O 


NATIONAL  PROHIBITION. 


377 


NECESSITY"  OF  NATIONAL  PROHIBITION. 

No  general  public  evil  has  ever  been  permanently  removed 
or  generally  restrained  without  the  agency  of  law.  Indeed, 
how  can  such  an  evil  be  removed  unless  there  is  a public 
opinion  against  it  ? Unless  public  opinion  is  pronounced 
against  it,  there  is  no  evil  which  the  forces  of  society  will 
endeavor  to  remove.  Law  is  the  inevitable  result  of  moral 
suasion  whenever  moral  suasion  is  effective ; and  to  say  that 
there  shall  be  no  law  is  to  say  that  there  shall  be  no  moral 
suasion  to  demonstrate  the  existence  of  the  evil  and  to  create 
public  opinion  for  its  removal. 

The  premises  involve  the  conclusion  which  logically  fol- 
lows. Therefore,  whoever  asserts  the  existence  of  a general 
evil  destructive  to  societjq  inflicted  wholly  or  in  part  by  its 
individual  members  upon  each  other,  asserts  the  necessity  of 
a law  to  assist  in  its  removal  and  to  prevent  its  restoration. 

We  have  already  adverted  to  the  nature  of  the  evil  of 
alcoholism,  and  to  the  self-evident  fact  that  but  for  the  pro- 
duction of  the  cause  through  the  agency  of  a great  industry 
protected  by  law,  the  terrible  consequences  could  not  exist. 

If,  then,  laws  to  prohibit  or  restrain  the  evil  of  alcoholic 
intemperance  should  exist,  the  only  inquiry  which  remains 
is,  what  is  the  best  law  to  effect  the  purpose?  The  object 
of  the  law  should  be  to  extirpate  the  evil.  Is  alcoholic  in- 
temperance a national  evil?  If  so,  should  it  not  be  prohib- 
ited by  national  law  ? 

But  if  a national  evil,  it  follows  that  it  is  one  cursing  all 
sections — every  Territory  and  every  State.  If  so,  unless 
exclusive  jurisdiction  over  it  has  been  confided  b}r  the  States 
and  people  to  the  general  government,  the  law-making  power 
in  every  State  should  also  prohibit  the  evil  in  its  jurisdiction. 
But  we  find  on  examination  of  our  complex  form  of  govern- 
ment, embracing  in  one  grand  whole  that  of  the  nation  and 
of  the  States,  that  what  is  called  the  police  power  is  in  the 
States  and  the  people  at  large  ; that  no  substantial  part  of  it 
has  been  confided  to  the  general  government,  at  least  no 
more  than  it  may  be  necessary  to  exercise  in  order  to  pre- 
serve the  powers  expressly  or  by  fair  implication  delegated 
to  it  in  the  fundamental  law. 


378 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


The  police  power  is  that  under  which  the  traffic  in  intox- 
icating drink  must  be  controlled  and  prohibited,  if  at  all  — 
and  it  resides  in  the  States.  But  the  States  and  people  have 
expressly  given  to  the  general  government  the  right  and 
power  to  regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations,  among  the 
several  States,  and  with  the  Indian  tribes.  The  general  gov- 
eminent  recognizes  and  protects  alcohol  as  property  and  as 
an  article  of  legitimate  commerce.  So  long  as  any  State, 
domestic  or  foreign,  continues  to  permit  the  manufacture  of 
alcohol  and  the  traffic  therein,  the  general  government  stands 
{hedged  to  exercise  all  its  powers  of  legislature,  judicature 
and  execution  to  protect  and  facilitate  the  continued  inflic- 
tion of  the  curse. 

States  may  do  much  to  rescue  their  people,  and  public  sen- 
timent everywhere  may  cry  out  in  its  extremity,  but  so  long 
as  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States  guarantee 
the  safe  importation  and  transportation  of  alcoholic  beverages 
in  the  original  packages  through  the  ports  and  over  the  avenues 
of  interstate  commerce  of  this  country,  the  extinction  or  sub- 
stantial restraint  of  the  evil  is  impossible.  If  the  demand 
did  not  already  exist,  local  laws  and  public  opinion  might, 
perhaps,  suffice ; but  not  now,  when  every  hamlet,  and  some 
inmate  of  almost  every  house  in  the  whole  land,  is  cursed  b}' 
unnatural  desire.  I would  not  be  understood  to  discourage 
the  efforts  to  secure  prohibitoiy  laws,  both  constitutional  and 
statutory,  in  the  States.  They  are  indispensable,  and  even 
when  these  efforts  fail,  or,  the  laws  being  enacted,  their  pur- 
pose partially  fails,  still,  they  constitute  the  nucleus  of  that 
agitation  which  forms  public  opinion,  and  lead  gradually  up 
to  that  universal  public  judgment  which,  sooner  or  later, 
will  amend  the  constitution  of  the  country  so  as  to  prohibit 
absolutely  this  baneful  traffic  everywhere  by  national  law. 
It  should  be  observed  that  such  an  amendment  of  the  national 
constitution  would  not  be  an  infringement  upon  the  police  or 
any  other  powers  of  the  States  and  of  the  people.  Quite  the 
contrary;  for  this  power,  now  in  the  general  government,  to 
regulate  commerce  in  alcohol,  nullifies  the  police  powers  of 
the  States  to  protect  their  people  from  an  evil  which  falls  under 
their  absolute  jurisdiction,  in  theory,  and  which  in  its  tre- 
mendous scope  includes  almost  every  burden  and  crime,  to 


Mrs.  Mary  T.  Burt , 

President  IV.  C.  T.  U.,  of  J\ew  York. 


;r'M£!SSi& 


PROHIBITION  OF  MANUFACTURE. 


379 


prevent  which  the  State  governments  themselves  exist.  Such 
an  amendment  would,  first,  remove  all  restrictions  from  the 
efforts  of  States,  and,  second,  would  place  the  general  govern- 
ment affirmatively  on  the  side  of  the  interests  of  the  whole 
people  and  of  all  the  States,  in  their  efforts  to  deliver  them- 
selves from  the  body  of  this  death.  Commerce  with  foreign 
powers  must  be  regulated  by  national  laws,  and  there  are 
States  and  Territories  of  the  United  States  wherein,  if  left  to 
themselves,  the  manufacture  and  trade  would  exist,  it  may 
be,  forever  ; consequently,  under  our  complex  system  of  gov- 
ernment, it  would  be  impracticable  to  remove  the  causes  of 
alcoholic  intemperance  without  an  amendment  to  the  national 
laws.  Such  an  amendment  of  the  national  constitution  is  the 
proper  immediate  objective  point  of  all  temperance  agitation 
and  work.  There  has  been  labor  enough  long  since  ex- 
pended  to  have  secured  the  result  if  directed  to  this  great 
end.  There  will  never  be  any  substantial  and  permanent 
temperance  reform  in  this  country,  so  far  as  the  same  is 
dependent  upon  law,  until  the  sporadic  efforts  of  States  and 
sections  are  made  to  converge  upon  the  real  citadel  of  the 
rum  curse,  which  is  the  national  constitution. 

MUST  PROHIBIT  MANUFACTURE. 

There  is  another  fallacy  or  misdirection  of  energy  which  is 
now,  fortunately,  being  generally  remedied.  Prohibition 
has  been  directed  against  the  sale  merely,  while  the  manu- 
facture has  not  been  interfered  with ; so  that,  as  a matter  of 
fact,  there  has  never  been  a prohibitory  law  in  this  country. 
It  is  impossible  to  enact  a prohibitory  law,  in  its  true  sense, 
by  any  State.  It  is  apparent  that  to  prohibit  the  sale  while 
the  manufacture  and  transportation  are  unrestrained  and  the 
appetite  everywhere  exists  is  nugatory.  No  prohibition  of 
the  manufacture  and  transportation  can  be  effective  unless  by 
virtue  of  national  law,  because  the  manufacture  for  the 
world  can  take  place  on  any  single  square  mile  of  the  conti- 
nent, and  transportation  is  controlled  by  national  power. 
Those  who  sneeringly  say  that  prohibition  does  not  prohibit 
should  remember  that  there  never  y et  was  a prohibitory  law 
in  this  country.  When  the  nation  has  prohibited  the  impor- 
tation, manufacture,  transportation  and  sale  of  intoxicating 


380 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


beverages,  and  that  sort  of  prohibition  does  not  prohibit,  it 
vvi  1 1 be  ample  season  to  cry  out  against  the  efficienc}r  of 
enactments  which  seek  to  extirpate  crime  from  the  land  by 
the  removal  of  its  great  exciting  cause. 

It  is  often  said  that  it  is  impossible  to  prevent  the  manu- 
facture of  alcohol  for  use  as  a beverage.  Why  is  it  more 
difficult  to  prevent  the  manufacture  than  the  sale,  for  im- 
proper uses,  by  law?  All  civilized  governments  attempt  to 
regulate  or  prohibit  the  sale.  The  nation  knows  every  dis- 
tillery, and  taxes  and  thrives  upon  its  product.  Some  States 
permit  and  regulate  the  sale  for  legitimate  uses,  while  others 
license  and  regulate  the  sale  for  all,  and  the  right  to  do  one 
implies  the  right  to  do  the  other  whenever  the  public  good 
may  require. 

What  difficulty,  then,  could  the  nation  experience  in  pro- 
hibiting and  preventing,  substantially,  the  creation  and  trans- 
portation of  alcohol  for  any  but  medicinal,  scientific  and 
other  indispensable  uses,  if  the  attempt  were  seriously  made? 
Even  if  only  partially  successful,  why  not  make  the  most 
reasonable  efforts,  if  we  are  to  make  any,  to  remove  the  evil, 
or  abandon  the  field  entirely  ? I have  no  argument  with 
those,  if  such  there  be,  who  are  opposed  to  any  legislation 
against  the  liquor  traffic  — with  those  who  would  either 
license  it  or  make  it  wholly  free.  Such  people,  to  be  con- 
sistent, should  repeal  the  whole  criminal  code,  and  recite  the 
golden  rule  to  pirates  and  snakes. 

If  we  are  to  legislate  at  all  upon  the  subject,  why  not  aim 
to  ascertain  the  real  nature  and  full  extent  of  the  evil,  and 
then  enact  laws  whose  jurisdiction  is  complete,  and  whose 
penalties  and  prohibitions  are  commensurate  to  the  end? 
Hitherto  all  legislation  has  been  by  the  States.  Xecessaril}’- 
it  has  been  confined  chiefly  to  the  sale  and  use  by  individuals. 
The  States  can  partially  reach  the  sale  and  use  within  their 
own  borders,  but  the  manufacture  and  distribution  are  practi- 
cally beyond  their  control,  and  therefore  may  almost  as  well 
be  unrestricted  by  the  States,  since  to  prohibit  within  their 
respective  limits  is  merel}r  to  drive  capital  and  labor  elsewhere, 
without  perceptibly  diminishing  the  use  by  their  own  citizens. 
Such  attempts  by  the  State  are  like  removing  the  Mississippi 
river  in  sections,  or  abolishing  the  east  wind  by  law. 


NATIONALIZATION  ESSENTIAL. 


381 


For  half  a century,  the  working  life  of  more  than  two  gen- 
erations, gigantic  efforts  have  been  put  forth  by  noble  men 
and  women,  by  philanthropists,  by  statesmen  and  by  States, 
to  restrain  and  destroy  the  alcoholic  evil,  through  the  opera- 
tion of  moral  suasion  and  by  State  law.  Public  sentiment 
has  been  aroused,  and  public  opinion  created,  and  at  times, 
in  my  belief,  it  might  have  been  crystallized  into  national 
law  had  the  labor  been  properly  directed.  But  it  has  failed, 
as  it  will  always  fail  so  long  as  we  save  at  the  spigot  and 
waste  at  the  bung.  I borrow  this  expressive  simile  from 
the  business  of  the  enemy.  The  temperance  question  is  in 
its  nature  a national  question,  just  as  much  so  as  the  tariff  is, 
and  more  so  than  slavery  was.  It  is  waste  of  time  to  deal 
with  it  only  by  towns  and  counties  and  States.  All  possible 
local  effort  should  be  put  forth  against  the  liquor  death 
everywhere.  The  yellow-fever  should  be  fought  in  the  by- 
ways and  hospitals  by  the  physician  and  the  nurse  as  well  as 
by  the  quarantine  of  our  ports,  and  the  suspension  of  infected 
traffic  by  national  law ; but  the  enemy  will  forever  come  in 
like  a flood,  unless  the  nation,  which  is  assailed  as  a nation, 
defends  itself  as  a nation.  Battle-fields  are  local,  but  the 
powers  which  contend  upon  them  are  national.  What  prog- 
ress would  have  been  made  in  the  restoration  of  national 
integrity,  if  the  war  for  the  Union  had  been  conducted  by 
the  States  in  isolation,  and  their  efforts  had  been  confined  to 
their  own  geographical  jurisdiction  respectively? 

NATIONALIZATION. 

What  the  temperance  reform  most  needs  is  unification  of 
effort,  nationalization.  Samson  was  not  more  completely 
hampered  by  withes  than  is  this  giant  reform  by  the  geo- 
graphical lines  of  States ; and  if  its  supporters  would  but 
use  their  strength,  they  would  at  once  find  their  natural  arena 
circumscribed  only  by  the  national  domain. 

How  shall  this  be  done  ? 

By  concentration  upon  the  enactment  of  national  consti- 
tutional law.  The  nation  can  act  in  no  other  way  than  by 
law,  and  now  there  is  no  national  law  for  the  removal  of  the 
alcoholic  evil.  On  the  contrary,  we  have  seen  how  by  guar- 
anteeing the  importation  and  transportation,  and  permitting 


382 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


the  manufacture,  the  national  constitution  is  the  very  citadel 
of  the  rum  power. 

Believing  as  I do  that  the  misdirection  of  effort,  and  not 
the  lack  of  comprehension  of  the  extent  of  the  evil  or  of 
earnest  desire  to  remove  it,  is  the  reason  why  the  temperance 
reform  has  so  little  of  actual  result  to  show  for  the  agitation 
of  the  last  fifty  years,  at  the  risk  of  some  repetition,  I 
will  reproduce,  with  occasional  changes,  views  expressed  by 
myself  a few  years  since,  when  endeavoring  to  secure  con- 
centration upon  a national  plan  of  action.  One  thing  is  cer- 
tain— that  the  promoters  of  the  traffic  most  dread  a national 
movement.  So  long  as  the  nation  is  their  cit}r  of  refuge  in 
its  territory  and  its  laws,  they  fear  not  what  man  can  do 
unto  them.  If  they  are  persecuted  in  one  place,  as  did 
the  early  Christians,  they  lice  into  another,  and  wait  for  the 
returning  tide,  which,  like  the  ever  recurrent  pressure  of  the 
ocean  upon  Holland,  can  be  excluded  only  by  national  dykes. 
But  national  prohibition  would  be  the  end  of  the  traffic. 
They  instinctively  know  it,  and  everywhere  cry  out,  " Take 
any  form  but  that.”  The  liquor  interest  of  this  country  and 
of  the  world  is  in  the  hands  of  great  men.  They  are  a tre- 
mendous power.  They  are  neither  better  nor  much  worse, 
as  a class,  than  those  who  control  other  business  affairs. 
Many  of  them  are  " our  best  citizens.”  Whatever  they  do 
society  permits,  and  often  demands  for  its  own  gratification. 
But  they  know  what  hurts  them  when  they  suffer  and  what 
will  destroy  them  when  they  hear  it  proposed.  They  know 
that  national  prohibition  will  do  it.  The}"  are  opposed  to 
national  prohibition.  They  consider  prohibitionists  to  be 
cranks  and  fanatics.  When  the  " children  of  light,”  as  we 
temperance  people  love  to  consider  ourselves,  as  compared 
with  the  liquor-dealing  " children  of  this  world,”  perceive 
the  vulnerable  point  in  the  enemy’s  fortifications,  they  will 
charge  upon  it  under  the  national  banner,  and  in  saving  the 
nation  they  will  save  all  its  parts. 

RTGHT  AND  NECESSITY  OF  LEGISLATION. 

The  right  of  government  to  legislate  upon  the  subject  of 
intemperance  has  been  strongly  denied,  but  the  absolute 
necessity  of  prohibition  or  regulation  of  the  traffic  in  intoxi- 


Hon.  Elijah  A.  Morse , 

of  the  Governor  s Council , J\Tass. 


RIGHT  OF  TEMPERANCE  LEGISLATION. 


383 


eating  drinks  has  been  demonstrated  in  every  civilized  coun- 
try where  their  use  has  unfortunately  become  prevalent,  and 
the  statute-books  of  England  and  America,  for  two  centuries 
at  least,  bear  constant  witness  to  the  exercise  of  that  power. 
The  question  has  been  raised  and  settled  in  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  and  by  the  highest  tribunals  in 
almost  every  State  of  the  Union,  if  not  in  all.  It  is  too  late 
to  deny  the  power,  the  right,  and  the  necessity  of  such  leg- 
islation. It  is  only  a question  of  the  jurisdiction  by  which 
it  shall  be  enacted  and  the  extent  to  which  it  shall  be 
carried. 

In  this  connection  I wish  to  call  attention  to  a fallacy 
which  exists  in  the  minds  of  many.  It  is  assumed  by  the 
advocates  of  the  traffic  of  intoxicating  liquors  that  there  is  a 
distinction  between  the  right  of  government  to  enact  legis- 
lation totally  and  that  which  is  partially  prohibitory.  Gov- 
ernment, it  is  said,  may  license  and  regulate,  but  may  not 
prohibit.  But  there  is  no  such  distinction  in  reason  at  all. 
The  poiver  to  partially  prohibit  by  license  restricted  to  indi- 
viduals and  to  a certain  number  — which  is  prohibition  so  far 
as  it  restricts  at  all  — is  the  same  power  and  stands  upon  the 
same  ground — -that  is,  the  obligation  to  promote  the  general 
welfare— as  that  to  prohibit  absolutely.  A license  to  only 
one  man  to  make  or  sell  ardent  spirits  is  an  absolute  prohibi- 
tion to  all  the  rest  of  the  community  to  do.  so  at  all.  The 
advocates  of  the  license  and  regulation  of  the  traffic  have  no 
logical  ground  upon  which  to  object  to  absolute  prohibition, 
if  necessity  requires.  It  is  only  a question  of  degree.  The 
universal  sense  of  mankind  has  passed  that  point  where  it  is 
necessary  to  demonstrate  the  right  to  prohibit  absolutely 
and  totally.  There  is  in  fact  no  difference  between  restraint 
and  prohibition  as  a principle.  Prohibition  is  never  held  to 
extend  beyond  those  uses  which  are  demonstrably  injurious 
to  society.  For  all  necessary  and  beneficial  purposes  pro- 
hibitory laws  permit  or  license  the  traffic.  I think  this  view 
of  the  subject  important  and  a complete  reply  to  those  who 
claim  that  the  evil  should  be  licensed  and  regulated,  at  the 
same  time  that  they  hold  the  total  prohibition  to  be  a viola- 
tion of  inalienable  right  and  the  enactment  of  a sumptuary 
law.  The  one  is  as  much  a sumptuary  law  and  a violation 


3S4 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


of  inalienable  right  as  the  other,  and  no  more  so.  If  this  is 
true,  and  I am  not  able  to  see  wherein  it  is  false,  there  is  an 
end  of  the  argument  between  the  advocates  of  license  and 
prohibition  as  to  the  right  of  such  legislation,  for  they  stand 
upon  common  ground,  and  there  is  no  logical  position  for 
those  who  controvert  the  justice  of  prohibitory  laws,  so 
called,  but  that  of  those  who  advocate  the  unrestricted  right 
to  manufacture  and  sell  intoxicating  liquors  to  everybody  for 
all  purposes  ; and  that  ground  has  not  been  held  by  any 
court  for  generations  to  my  knowledge. 

The  objection  to  license  is  that  there  is  not  enough  of 
practical  prohibition  in  it  to  diminish  the  evil. 

Alcohol  has  its  uses.  It  is  a necessity  in  the  arts.  It  is 
invaluable  for  many  medicinal  purposes,  and  as  such  is 
entitled  to  protection  as  property.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
it  is  armed  with  fatal  capacity  to  destroy.  It  is  a Pan- 
dora’s box  of  evils.  In  its  peculiarly  fatal  form,  that  of 
distillation,  which  is  concentrated  death,  it  was  unknown 
for  five  thousand  years  of  the  world's  history,  and  man- 
kind were  the  better  for  their  ignorance.  The  fruit  of  this 
tree  of  knowledge  has  been  death.  During  the  last  three 
centuries  what  is  known  as  ardent  spirits  with  us,  and  the 
immense  and  dreadful  curses  which  grow  out  of  their  use, 
have  gradually  arisen.  They  have  the  power  of  perverting 
the  natural  instincts  and  tastes  of  both  body  and  mind,  and 
to  recreate  man  into  the  slave  of  perverted  appetites,  having 
insatiable,  consuming,  uncontrollable,  devilish  power.  The 
image  of  God  becomes  dangerous  to  society  as  Avell  as  to 
himself,  whether  as  a maniac  or  as  a criminal,  and  it  is  this 
consequence  of  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  which  the  laws 
have  constantly,  but  imperfectly,  undertaken  to  control  for 
many  years  : nothing  more. 

The  prohibitory  amendment  to  the  national  constitution 
proposes  to  extend  over  the  national  domain  the  protection 
of  a constitutional  inhibition  of  the  destructive  tendencies 
of  liquors  when  made  and  used  for  purposes  which  have 
been  proved  to  be  detrimental  to  society,  and  which  many  of 
the  States  of  the  Union  have  endeavored  vainly  to  restrict 
and  destroy. 

Nothing  but  a general  law  can  be  efficient.  That  has 

O O 


PROHIBITION  AND  MORAL  SUASION. 


385 


been  demonstrated  by  experience.  "While  one  State  pro- 
hibits, another  manufactures  and  encourages.  The  appetite 
already  exists.  It  increases  and  even  becomes  hereditary. 
More  than  one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  saloons  and  tip- 
pling places  educate  the  children  of  America  in  habits  of 
intoxication,  and  the  appetite  will  crush  the  imaginary  lines 
which  State  legislation  erects  against  the  introduction  of  this 
evil  merchandise,  even  as  the  billows  of  the  lake  which 
burneth  with  tire  and  brimstone  might  be  supposed  to  bury 
and  consume  the  paper  on  which  that  legislation  is  written. 
The  manufacture  and  the  appetite  act  and  react  upon  each 
other.  The  demand  creates  the  supply,  and  constantly 
cries  out,  " Give  ! give  ! ” The  supply  or  manufacture  is 
thus  stimulated  and  perpetuated.  It  will  alwaj^s  continue 
unless  stopped  by  the  union  of  persuasion  and  compulsion, 
because  of  its  lucrative  nature,  and  because  the  appetite  for 
strong  drink,  when  once  established,  lives  with  an  infernal 
immortality  through  successive  generations  of  men.  Thus  it 
is  that  the  necessity  of  legal  enactment  is  apparent.  True 
that  behind  legal  enactments,  as  in  all  other  cases  where 
public  evils  and  crimes  are  prohibited  bjr  law,  must  be  pub- 
lic opinion,  which  is  the  basis  of  all  law  in  a free  country 
where  the  people  rule,  and  public  opinion  is  the  creature  of 
experience,  argument,  discussion,  and  personal  appeal  — in 
short,  of  " moral  suasion,”  as  these  agencies  are  called  in 
their  application  to  the  subject  of  intemperate  vice  in  the 
use  of  spirituous  liquors.  "Moral  suasion”  must  precede 
the  law,  and  accompany  and  assist  in  its  enforcement.  They 
are  allies.  The  one  grows  out  of  the  other  just  as  the  law 
against  theft  grows  out  of  the  universal  sentiment  of  man- 
kind that  theft  is  wrong  and  a public  evil  which  must  be 
prevented  by  the  forces  of  society. 

Laws  to  protect  society  against  intoxication  inevitably 
grow  out  of  moral  suasion,  if  there  is  enough  of  it  to  arouse 
the  general  conscience  and  the  intelligent  apprehension  of 
the  people  to  the  enormous  losses  and  wrongs  inflicted  by 
alcohol  upon  societ}r  at  large.  Thus  it  is  that  the  call  for 
more  of  moral  suasion  and  less  of  law  is  a contradiction  of 
terms.  These  forces  are  in  harmony  like  a father  and  son  in 
a partnership  ; the  law  steps  in  and  enlarges  and  perpetuates 
25 


386 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


the  business  which  moral  suasion  has  established  after  years 
of  indefatigable  industry  upon  the  platform,  through  the 
press,  and  by  private  solicitation  and  appeal.  And  for  any 
person  to  cry  out  against  a law  against  the  use  of  intoxicat- 
ing liquors  in  society  which  could  never  have  been  enacted  at 
all  but  in  consequence  of  moral  suasion,  and  say  that  it 
injures  the  cause  because  you  cannot  compel  men  to  do  right 
against  their  will,  is  to  say  that  all  crime  and  every  public 
evil  shall  go  free  of  the  law  ; not  only  that,  but  that  society 
shall  abandon  all  conservative  and  preventive  means  for  the 
protection  of  those  who  come  after  us ; that  not  only  shall 
the  law  abandon  the  present  but  the  rising  generation,  and, 
in  fact,  consistency  will  require  that  in  the  end  moral  suasion 
itself  must  be  abandoned,  since  its  inevitable  result  is  a 
formal  embodiment  of  its  teachings  in  general  law,  as  soon 
as  it  has  produced  a strong  public  sentiment  upon  which  law 
can  rest,  and  which  will  enforce  the  law. 

I have  already  asked  attention  to  the  facts,  which,  as  I 
think,  demonstrate  that  the  unrestricted  use  and  effect  of 
distilled  spirits  constitute  public  evils  of  such  a nature  as  to 
not  only  justify,  but  compel  the  interposition  of  the  law ; 
just  now  I wish  to  coniine  attention  to  the  necessity  of 
national  legislation,  if  we  would  reach  the  evil  effectively. 

It  is  evident,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  intense  thirst  or 
appetite  of  the  country  will  lead  to  the  manufacture  and 
transportation  of  alcohol  for  the  purpose  of  its  gratification. 
If  the  production  is  suppressed  everywhere  else  in  the  whole 
country,  still,  in  a single  one  of  the  smallest  States  where 
the  manufacture  might  be  allowed  (and  the  temptation  to 
permit  the  manufacture  in  small  and  isolated  localities  would 
be  greatly  increased  in  the  proportion  that  the  concentration 
of  the  business  made  its  existence  profitable  to  the  State  for 
purposes  of  taxation  and  otherwise),  the  materials  being 
transported,  as  they  would  be  from  other  States,  the  entire 
supply  of  all  kinds  of  distilled  spirits  for  the  whole  country 
could  easily  be  furnished.  The  manufacture  might  be  local- 
ized, but  it  -would  still  exist,  and  all  the  efforts  of  State 
legislation  elsewhere  would  thus  be  substantially  thwarted. 

Again,  supposing  that  every  State  and  Territory  in  the 
country  should  suppress  the  manufacture,  and  importation 


NATIONAL  LAW  ESSENTIAL. 


3S7 


from  abroad  should  continue,  the  evil  would  remain  the 
same  ; and  we  should  only  have  transferred  the  manufacture, 
with  the  immense  capital  engaged  in  it,  to  a foreign  country, 
to  which  we  should  first  export  our  corn  and  rye  and  wheat, 
to  be  returned  in  the  form  of  imported  liquors  to  the  dry 
throats  of  American  consumers.  Thus  we  should  retain  the 
evil  after  depriving  ourselves  of  the  revenues  derived  from 
it.  Now,  since  State  legislation  cannot  interfere  with  the 
manufacture  outside  its  own  limits,  nor  possibly  within  its 
own  limits  for  exportation  to  other  States,  and  as  commerce, 
alike  domestic  and  foreign,  is  controlled  b}r  the  general  gov- 
ernment, it  is  apparent  that  any  legal  enactment  which  goes 
to  the  root  of  the  matter  must  be  national  in  its  scope  and 
character.  So  far  as  the  exportation  to  other  countries  is 
concerned,  while  I do  not  say  that  it  could  not  be  still  carried 
on  without  great  evil  to  our  own  people,  aside  from  the  waste 
of  material,  and  the  perversion  of  capital  and  labor  from 
useful  purposes,  yet  to  continue  to  poison  mankind  at  large, 
with  what  we  had  prohibited  to  ourselves,  would  be  like 
peddling  off  to  our  neighbors  the  contaminated  and  fatal 
garments  which  we  might  have  had  left  after  the  small-pox 
or  yellow-fever  had  run  through  our  own  family. 

As  a means  of  suppression,  the  power  to  arrest  the  article 
in  transitu  is  hardly  less  important  than  that  to  prevent  the 
manufacture  and  sale ; but  this  power  can  never  be  effect- 
ively exercised  so  long  as  the  United  States  protects  the 
transportation  of  ardent  spirits  to  the  same  extent  as  other 
forms  of  property  from  one  part  of  the  country  to  another. 
Experience  has  demonstrated  the  impossibility  of  prevention 
when  there  is  a chance  to  procure  and  while  all  the  innu- 
merable avenues  of  transportation  are  open. 

A^ain,  the  power  to  control  the  manufacture  and  sale  and 
use  of  distilled  alcoholic  liquors  is  to  be  found  under  the 
head  of  the  'police  power  of  government,  as  it  is  called,  which 
is  vested  primarily  in  the  several  States  ; and  in  order  that 
this  power  be  exercised  by  the  nation  at  large,  except  in  the 
District  of  Columbia  and  the  Territories,  the  Constitution 
must  first  be  amended  so  as  to  give  the  national  government 
the  right  to  co-operate  with  the  States  in  the  enforcement  of 
that  power  for  the  restriction  of  this  traffic.  There  is  no 


388 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


valid  objection  to  the  enlargement  or  change  of  national 
jurisdiction  in  this  respect,  as  will  appear  from  an  inspection 
of  the  Constitution  as  it  now  stands.  The  power  already 
exists  over  the  internal  police  of  the  States  so  far  as  to  pro- 
tect alcohol  as  property  for  all  purposes  for  which  it  can  be 
manufactured  and  transported.  The  constitution  now  inter- 
feres with  the  internal  police  of  every  State  which  may 
desire  to  banish  liquor  from  its  borders  for  the  public  good, 
by  protecting  every  other  State  which  sees  tit  to  encourage 
the  traffic  in  the  production  and  transportation  of  this  sub- 
stance as  a commodity  of  legitimate  commerce,  and  compels 
each  State  to  allow  its  importation  in  bulk  from  foreign 
countries  and  other  States,  and  when  once  within  the  territo- 
rial limits  of  a State  you  can  no  more  prevent  its  distribu- 
tion through  the  dram-shop  than  you  can  arrest  the  progress 
of  the  storm  by  a geographical  line.  So  it  is  that  the  Con- 
stitution already  does  interfere  in  the  most  potent  and  specific 
manner  with  the  internal  police  of  the  States  upon  this  all- 
important  subject. 

Thus  it  appears,  first , that  the  evil  can  only  be  effectually 
reached  by  national  legislation,  and,  second , that  such  legis- 
lation must  be  of  a constitutional  character.  It  further 
appears  that  this  is  the  assertion  of  no  zzeAV  power  over  the 
internal  police  of  the  States.  It  is  only  a modification,  for 
the  general  welfare,  of  a power  already  possessed  by  the 
national  government,  which  is  now  being  exercised  to  the 
destruction  of  the  efforts  of  the  States  to  extirpate  a prolific 
source  of  pauperism,  crime  and  death.  The  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  as  it  now  is  and  has  been  from  the  begin- 
ning, is  a law  for  the  unrestricted  manufacture,  sale,  iznpor 
tation,  exportation,  and  internal  transportation  of  intoxicat- 
ing liquors.  It  is  the  great  legal  fortress  of  intemperance  in 
this  country  to-day.  It  is  not  a blank  upon  this  subject.  It 
is  not  even  a mere  license  law.  But  b}r  its  recognition  of 
alcohol  as  property,  which  may  be  made  and  used  and  car- 
ried and  protected  for  all  purposes  in  the  national  domain ; 
by  its  protection  of  alcohol  as  an  imported  article  in  the 
ports  and  in  the  Territories  of  the  nation,  and  by  its  practical 
nullification  of  State  laws,  enabling  the  citizens  of  a certain 
State  to  erect  a public  bar  protected  b}T  the  supreme  law  of 


J.  Ellen  Fostci', 

President  Jl C.  T.  U.,  of  losaa. 


CONSTITUTIONAL  PROHIBITION. 


389 


the  land  along  every  inch  of  the  boundaries  of  a sister  State 
which  may  be  struggling  to  suppress  the  evil,  by  smuggling 
strong  liquors  with  impunity  across  the  boundaries  of  States, 
and  even  carrying  them  everywhere  under  the  Stars  and 
Stripes,  protected  if  need  be  by  the  Army  of  the  Union, 
in  these  ways  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  is  now 
the  great  almighty  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  temperance 
reform  in  this  country. 

That  Constitution  ought  in  this  respect  to  be  changed. 
Can  it  be  changed?  That  is  the  question,  and  there  is  but 
one  answer.  It  must  be  done.  No  such  word  ns  fail  should 
be  allowed  in  the  vocabulary  of  patriotism.  But  how  ? It 
can  onty  be  done  by  public  opinion.  Intelligence,  conscience 
and  common-sense  are  the  foundations  of  sound  public 
opinion  ; and  they  are  the  agencies  which  must  be  relied 
upon  to  effect  the  proposed  change  in  the  Constitution  of 
the  nation.  It  must  be  based  upon  the  intelligent  demand 
of  three-fourths  of  the  States  in  this  Union.  How  can  that 
public  sentiment  be  created?  First,  there  must  be  an  intel- 
ligent apprehension  of  the  extent  of  the  evil  to  be  remedied, 
and  that  the  nation  as  such  is  concerned  in  it.  Second,  there 
must  be  a practical  measure  proposed,  wise  and  just  and 
efficient,  upon  which  the  efforts  of  the  people  can  be  concen- 
trated. That  measure  must  be  radical  in  its  nature,  but  it 
must  not  ignore  existing  rights  nor  Adolate  the  public  faith, 
nor  assail  the  personal  character  of  those  Avho  are  engaged 
in  Avhat  the  nation  recognizes,  and  has  recognized  from  the 
beginning,  as  a legitimate  business  and  source  of  revenue  to 
the  coffers  of  the  country.  If  the  nation  has  traded  in  its 
own  destruction,  it  must  itself  Avear  the  hood  of  shame. 
That  measure  cannot  destroy  property  rights  vested  in  the 
public  faith  without  compensation  or  Avithout  giving  time 
for  the  diversion  of  capital  to  other  and  less  pernicious 
industries.  But  the  trade  must  treat  popular  agitation  as 
notice  to  quit.  It  must  exercise  common  prudence  for  the 
future. 

The  slave  trade  Avas  abolished  by  a constitutional  provis- 
ion, Avhich,  in  form,  gave  it  protection  for  nearty  twenty 
years.  If  it  had  been  proposed  to  make  that  provision  oper- 
ative at  once,  the  Constitution  itself  never  Avould  have  been 


390 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


adopted  by  the  American  people.  That  measure  must  inter- 
fere as  little  as  possible  with  the  internal  affairs  of  the  States, 
leaving  to  them  the  enforcement  of  special  laws  within  their 
own  borders,  subject  to  the  general  constitutional  restriction. 
And,  finally,  in  order  to  have  practical  value,  it  must  be  one 
which,  appealing  to  the  intelligence  and  patriotism  of  all 
classes  in  the  whole  country,  -will  have  some  rational  chance 
of  adoption  by  the  widely  diversified  interests,  prejudices 
and  sentiments  of  this  vast  nation,  and  of  incorporation  into 
the  supreme  law  of  the  land.  Such  a measure  I have 
endeavored  to  devise,  and,  although  it  may  be  full  of  imper- 
fections, I have  felt  some  hope  that  it  would  turn  the  atten- 
tion of  greater  powers  to  the  subject,  and  that  some  plan  for 
the  suppression  of  this  national  crime  and  shame,  through  a 
constitutional  inhibition,  would  lie  matui’ed.  I desire  to  call 
specific  attention  to  those  features  of  this  proposed  amend- 
ment to  the  Constitution  which  have  commended  themselves 
to  my  own  judgment,  and  which  I have  thought  would  strike 
the  public  mind  with  some  force. 

LEADING  FEATURES  OF  THE  PROPOSED  AMENDMENT. 

First,  it  is  a proposed  constitutional  amendment , and  not 
a measure  of  proposed  legislation  by  Congress  under  the 
Constitution  as  it  now  is.  I think  I have  already  said 
enough  to  show  that  whatever  the  nation  does  to  facilitate 
the  suppression  of  the  evils  perpetrated  by  alcohol  must  be 
accomplished  by  a change  in  the  Constitution  itself. 

TIME. 

Second.  The  time  when  the  first  clause  shall  take  effect 
is  so  far  in  the  future  that  vested  rights  will  not  suffer  at 
all ; certainly  not  essentially.  Notice  of  a quarter  of  a 
century  is  sufficient  to  every  manufacturer  to  turn  his 
attention  to  other  and  less  harmful  pursuits.  It  is  longer 
than  our  fathers  gave  to  the  merchant  marine  of  the  country 
to  remove  its  capital  from  the  slave  trade,  even  if  ratified  at 
once,  and  ten  years  are  given  whenever  ratification  may  take 
place.  This  will  enable  every  man  to  wear  out  his  still  or 
convert  his  machinery  to  some  beneficial  purpose.  It  will 
cover  the  average  period  of  business  life  for  this  entire 


FEATURES  OF  TIIE  AMENDMENT. 


391 


generation,  and  I doubt  whether  there  is  a distiller  in  the 
world  who  desires  that  his  son  should  follow  the  pursuit 
in  which  he  himself  feels  compelled  , to  remain,  and  the 
immediate  destruction  of  which  -would  reduce  his  family  to 
beggary.  Capital  invested  in  the  wholesale  and  import 
trade  could  be  very  easily  diverted  in  other  directions  at 
much  shorter  notice,  while  the  retailer  only  requires  time  to 
sell  out  his  stock  on  hand. 

I am  persuaded  that  great  injustice  is  often  done  in  public 
discussions  of  this  subject  by  the  wholesale  denunciations 
and  uncharitable,  not  to  say  unchristian  and  even  brutal, 
epithets  which  are  hurled  at  the  large  number  of  American 
citizens  who  are  engaged  in  one  branch  or  another  of  the 
liquor  business.  They  are  men  like  ourselves,  oftentimes 
better  than  those  who  assail  them,  and  nothing  is  gained  by 
the  effort  to  reform  individuals  by  lectures  which  -would 
disgrace  a fish-woman,  or  to  cany  great  public  measures  by 
scurrilous  attacks  upon  men  who  follow  an  avocation  which, 
however  hostile  to  the  interests  of  mankind,  is  }ret  in- 
trenched in  the  Constitution  of  our  country,  — a Consti- 
tution sanctioned  by  the  names  of  "Washington,  Franklin  and 
Madison ; and  by  virtue  of  the  broad  provisions  of  which 
we  derive  the  power  to  attack  our  fellow-men  with  a license 
of  the  tongue  almost  as  pernicious  to  the  public  welfare  as 
the  license  of  the  traffic  in  rum.  I am  satisfied  that  very 
large  numbers  of  men,  whose  interests  are  bound  up  in  the 
liquor  traffic,  would  themselves  gladly  co-operate,  if  they 
were  not  repelled  as  criminals,  with  the  most  ultra  advocates 
of  the  temperance  cause  in  some  broad  measure  which,  while 
it  will  enable  them  to  avoid  pecuniary  ruin,  will,  at  the 
same  time,  protect  the  coming  generations  from  the  storm 
of  fire  and  brimstone  which  is  pelting  ours  like  that  which 
fell  upon  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  and  left  them  at  the  bottom 
of  the  Dead  Sea. 


THE  CONSUMER. 

Again,  the  consumer , he  who  complains  that  you  assault 
his  manhood,  his  personal  liberty,  that  you  lock  up  his 
mouth  with  a sumptuary  law,  that  you  trample  upon  his 
God-given  freedom,  when  you  deprive  him  of  his  rum, 


392 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


whisky,  brandy,  and  gin,  when  you  interfere  with  his  right 
to  get  drunk,  to  be  drunk  and  to  help  others  to  be  drunk 
like  himself,  even  this  man  cannot  complain,  for  before  the 
year  1900  he  will  be  in  his  grave.  And  I have  never  yet 
seen  the  sot,  even,  who  wanted  to  transmit  his  right  to  be 
destroyed  by  strong  drink  to  his  son.  There  is  hardly  a 
victim  of  intemperance  on  this  continent  to-day  who  will 
not  vote  to  save  his  son  from  the  dreadful  appetite  which 
chains  him  to  his  fate.  The  parental  sentiment  of  the 
country  will  cry  out  for  this  amendment,  and  the  instincts 
of  human  nature  will  crowd  to  the  ballot-boxes  of  the  land 
to  save  the  children  of  the  ages  to  come.  I firmly  believe 
that,  if  Congress  will  only  give  the  American  people  the 
opportunity  to  act  on  this  proposed  amendment,  it  would 
win  upon  a popular  vote  after  two  years’  discussion. 

But  there  is  no  form  in  which  the  appeal  can  be  made  but 
by  the  submission  of  an  amendment  from  the  national 
Legislature  to  the  States  at  large,  and  why  should  not  the 
opportunity  be  given  and  the  result  left  with  the  people 
themselves  ? 

The  importation  of  liquors  is  now  the  subject  of  treaty 
stipulation  with  France  and  other  countries,  but  we  have 
the  unquestionable  right  to  abrogate  these  treaties  after 
reasonable  notice.  Every  nation  has  this  right,  and  I allude 
to  it  only  because  I have  heard  the  existence  of  these 
treaties  suggested  as  an  obstacle  to  the  adoption  of  the 
amendment. 

Again,  this  resolution  proposes  to  prevent  the  manu- 
facture. I think  it  is  apparent  that  there  can  be  no  per- 
manent temperance  reform  in  this  country  so  long  as  the 
manufacture  is  free. 

I am  not  aware  of  the  existence  of  any  law  in  any  State 
which  interferes  with  the  unrestricted  manufacture  of  dis- 
tilled spirits  for  every  purpose.  Whatever  is  made  will  be 
sold  ; and,  if  it  is  right  to  regulate  or  prohibit  the  sale  for 
any  use,  it  must  be  right  to  regulate  or  prohibit  the  manu- 
facture for  the  same  use,  and  if  it  is  possible  to  regulate  or 
prevent  the  sale  after  the  article  has  been  distributed  into 
a million  localities  all  over  the  country,  it  is  comparatively 
easy  to  control  the  manufacture,  'which,  necessarily,  must  be 


CONSTITUTIONAL  AMENDMENT  AND  STATE  EIGHTS.  393 


carried  on  where  large  masses  of  capital  are  concentrated. 
Granted,  that  individuals  will  manufacture  their  own  poi- 
son, yet  they  must  do  it  in  secret  and  under  such  difficulties 
and  public  reprobation  that  comparatively  small  injury  could 
result.  And  if  it  is  possible  to  regulate  the  sale,  and  suc- 
cessfully, or  even  with  approximate  success,  to  restrict  the 
sale  to  legitimate  and  necessary  uses  in  detached  States,  as 
has  been  so  largely  done  even  under  all  the  embarrassments 
of  existing  laws  and  a public  sentiment  none  too  sensitive 
and  never  hereafter  to  be  less  so  than  now,  how  much 
easier  will  it  be  to  regulate  and  control  the  manufacture  by 
licenses  from  the  States  or  from  the  general  Government, 
as  should  be  found  best  in  practice.  Especially  would  this 
be  so  when,  by  the  control  of  transportation,  every  particle 
made  could  be  traced  to  the  proper  and  authorized  dealers 
or  custodians  throughout  the  country.  It  'would  be  impos- 
sible to  conceal  the  manufacture  if  carried  on  to  any  inju- 
rious extent.  Nothing  can  reach  the  manufacturer  but  a 
constitutional  amendment,  for  two  reasons : first,  as  before 
observed,  the  Constitution  now  recognizes  ardent  spirits  for 
all  uses  to  be  property,  and,  second,  no  matter  how  strictly 
any  State  law  might  provide  for  its  suppression,  capital 
could  locate  in  some  other  jurisdiction,  in  some  other  State 
or  Territory,  or  in  some  foreign  state,  and  create  the  supply 
which  the  drinking  appetite  of  the  consumer  demands. 

Nor  can  there  be  any  valid  objection  to  this  legislation 
based  upon  the  doctrine  of  State  rights,  for  the  Constitution 
now  asserts  and  exercises  the  power  to  substantially  control 
or  thwart  the  police  power  of  the  States  by  rendering 
nugatory  their  efforts  to  regulate  and  suppress  the  evil. 
The  police  powers  of  the  States  are  thus  really  nullified  or 
abridged  in  a most  important,  nay  a matter  of  vital,  con- 
cern. The  deadliest  foe  of  social  happiness  and  public 
order  is  placed  under  the  protection  of  the  national  Con- 
stitution, and  the  State  must  subordinate  its  process  to  the 
rights  of  rum,  protected  by  the  national  power.  This 
amendment  proposes  to  repeal  those  restrictions  upon  the 
rights  of  States  to  govern  themselves,  and  substitute  pro- 
visions in  harmony  with  the  tendencies  of  enlightened  State 
legislation  and  the  interests  of  society,  and  thus  it  proposes 


394 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


to  re-enforce  the  police  power  of  the  States  acting  for  the 
public  good.  This  certainly,  at  the  worst,  is  no  greater 
restriction  of  the  powers  of  the  States  than  now  exists  in 
the  Constitution  by  virtue  of  the  protection  given  to  the 
liquor  interests  against  which  the  States,  so  many  of  them, 
wage  war.  And  it  is  difficult  to  see  why  an  advocate  of 
States’  rights  should  be  satisfied  with  the  Constitution  as 
it  is,  and  then  complain  when  it  is  proposed  to  change  the 
Constitution  so  as  to  give  the  States  still  greater  power  to 
restrict  and  control  an  evil  over  'which,  but  for  this  Consti- 
tution, the  States  would  have  absolute  power. 

It  seems  to  me  that  this  is  a sufficient  reply  to  those  who, 
claiming  that  they  desire  to  suppress  the  evil,  object  to  an 
increase  of  State  power  for  that  purpose.  If  the  real  diffi- 
culty is  that  the  objector  Avould  relieve  the  liquor  traffic  of 
all  legal  disabilities,  whether  State  or  national,  then  this 
view  of  States’  rights  will  not  be  satisfactory.  He  will  then 
be  satisfied  with  no  constitutional  amendment  which  does  not 
destroy  all  " police  power,”  State  or  national,  to  interfere 
with  the  evils  of  alcoholic  intemperance.  " States’  rights  ” 
is  a term  too  much  abused  in  these  latter  days,  and  honest 
men  should  examine  well  the  motives  and  pretenses  of  those 
who  appeal  to  prejudices  engendered  by  controversies  which, 
with  their  causes,  are  vanished  away.  AVe  certainly  are  a 
nation  to  such  extent  that  a vast  evil  which  contaminates 
the  atmosphere  of  the  continent  can  be  assailed  with  na- 
tional power,  especially  when  it  can  be  reached  successfully 
in  no  other  way,  and  the  method  proposed  leaves  to  the 
States  the  execution  of  the  great  work  if  they  will  perform 
it  in  their  own  self-chosen  way. 

But  I would  not  fail  to  urge  that  there  be  no  national 
action  at  the  expense  of  that  which  otherwise  would  be  done 
in  the  States.  The  two  forms  of  agitation  and  legislation 
should  go  on  together,  and  each  as  the  ally  of  the  other,  pro- 
moting, by  their  joint  action,  the  success  of  both,  fortifying 
and  securing  their  conquests  when  made. 

In  the  same  campaigns  we  discuss  both  State  and  national 
issues.  AVI137  is  it  not  easier  and  better  to  consider  the  issue 
against  alcohol  in  its  broad  and  national  aspect,  which  is  the 
really  important  and  only  decisive  one,  rather  than  wholly  in 


TIIE  NATIONAL  ASPECT. 


395 


its  local  and  lesser  relations  in  States,  counties  and  towns? 
At  the  same  primaries  we  select  both  State  and  national 
candidates,  or  choose  delegates  to  act  for  us  in  conventions 
which  perform  our  will.  Why  not,  then,  see  to  it  that 
national  candidates  are  sound  upon  the  temperance  issue, 
as  well  as  those  who  are  to  be  officers  only  of  the  State? 

No  more  important  questions  ever  arise  in  Congress  than 
questions  upon  bills  and  resolutions  which  relate  to  traffic  in 
alcohol,  and  yet  Ave  ignore  them  in  the  formation  of  national 
platforms,  and  in  the  choice  of  candidates  for  the  exercise  of 
the  executive  and  legislative  poAver. 

The  movements  of  the  present  time  for  prohibitory  amend- 
ments of  State  constitutions  and  for  statutory  prohibition  and 
regulation,  including  the  system  of  "local-option”  effort,  are 
of  great  importance,  especially  as  the  means  of  temporary 
restraint,  and  as  the  centers  of  agitation  and  means  of  cre- 
ating enlightened  public  opinion  ; but  such  is  the  nature  and 
scope  of  the  evil,  and  such  are  the  relations  of  the  general 
and  special  or  State  governments  to  each  other,  that  nothing 
but  a movement  based  upon  the  national  idea  presents  a clear 
prospect  of  permanent  success.  The  same  and  greater  diffi- 
culties arise  in  all  action  for  the  permanent  or  even  temporary 
suppression  of  the  liquor  traffic  that  does  not  include  aggres- 
sive co-operation  of  the  national  goArernment,  which  ruined 
the  country  under  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  and  which 
did  not  abate  until  the  Avhole  subject  of  commerce,  foreign 
and  between  the  States,  Avas  placed  under  the  control  of  one 
soA'ereism  power.  The  combination  of  local  and  national 
effort  is  indispensable  to  the  desired  end.  Neither  can  pre- 
vail Avithout  the  other  ; neither  can  be  postponed  for  the  other 
Avithout  harm.  Let  everybody  throw  a stone  at  the  liquor 
traffic,  each  in  his  OAvn  Avay,  Avhen  he  is  so  organized  that  he 
can  not  or  Avill  not  use  prepared  ammunition  nor  shoot  Avith 
the  regulation  gun. 

But  still  the  fact  Avill  remain  that  to  ignore  or  delay  the 
moA’ement  for  a prohibitory  amendment  of  the  national  Con- 
stitution, so  that  it  may  be  reserAred  to  be  a Yorktown  rather 
than  a Bunker  Hill  — that  is  to  say,  a crowning  rather  than  a 
preliminary  battle  — is  to  decide  to  fight  as  a mass  ot  indi- 
viduals, or  an  isolation  of  States,  rather  than  as  a trained 


396 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


army  with  a general  plan  of  campaign,  and  a national  con- 
centration of  organized  power  for  the  destruction  of  an 
organized  national  curse. 

It  is  a division  and  misdirection  of  power  where  combina- 
tion and  definite  aim  arc  required  to  give  substantial  success. 
It  is  time  that  the  prohibitory  idea  should  assume  that  con- 
trol of  any  national  party  which  belongs  to  a sentiment  which 
is  the  conviction  of  three-fourths  of  the  people  in  that  party. 
Lo  party  can  remain  permanently  three-fourths  for  pro- 
hibition and  one-fourth  against  it.  That  is  less  possible  than 
it  once  was  for  the  nation  to  remain  permanently  half  slave 
and  half  free.  Ideas  never  compromise.  They  contend  for 
mastery,  but  they  never  conciliate  nor  coalesce.  We  are  at 
the  dividing  of  the  ways  : 

“ The  crisis  presses  on  us. 

Face  to  face  with  us  it  stands, 

With  its  solemn  lips  of  question. 

Like  the  Sphinx  on  Egypt’s  sands.” 

Our  generation  is  passing  away.  Let  not  those  of  us  who 
have  chiefly  done  our  work  forget  that  the  nation  will  survive 
us,  and  that  the  tree  of  liberty  will  be  full  of  sap  after  we 
are  gone.  Let  us  die  in  the  direction  of  hope.  If  the  vic- 
tory come  not  in  our  time,  nor  to  our  advantage,  let  those 
who  bury  us  have  reason  to  embalm  our  hearts,  that  in  the 
thick  fight  which  is  between  us  and  the  Hoty  Land,  chief- 
tains who  command  our  children  shall,  like  the  crusader,  cast 
the  sacred  relics  far  forward  into  the  ranks  of  the  foe.  So 
may  the  armies  of  the  cross  win  victories  from  the  memory 
of  our  devotion  to  the  right. 

Let  us  at  least  leave  behind  the  example  of  unflinching 
and  unselfish  valor  put  forth  in  a sublime  cause  — a cause 
which  it  is  duty  to  uphold,  even  though  complete  success 
may  linger  until  our  warfare  is  ended,  and  our  sacrifices  and 
calamities,  if  any  there  be,  endured  for  its  promotion,  shall 
be  long  overpast. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


WOMAN  SUFFRAGE  AND  TEMPERANCE  REFORM. 


Woman’s  Kingdom,  the  Home,  at  Stake  — Woman  the  Greatest  Barrier 
to  Intemperance  — Temperance  is  Woman's  War  — Rum  Destroys 
the  Home  — Suffrage  of  Woman  Indispensable  to  the  Temperance 
Reform  — Human  Suffrage  the  True  Ideal — Woman  Suffrage  Dis- 
cussed— Senate  Committee’s  Report  on  Suffrage  of  Woman  — 
Woman’s  Christian  Temperance  Union,  an  Illustration  of  Woman’s 
Ability  to  Shape  Action  — Ouida’s  Notions  about  Women  — Intelli- 
gent Men  Concede  Woman’s  Capacity  and  Moral  Fitness  — Suffrage 
not  a Right  Dependent  on  Sex  — To  Vote  the  Great  Primitive  Right 
— Maternity  does  not  Disqualify;  Motherhood  adds  Motives  — 
Mothers  can  Attend  Church,  why  not  the  Polls?  — Objection  that 
Woman  does  not  Desire  Suffrage  — Objection  that  Husband  and 
Wife  will  Disagree  — Experience  of  Wyoming,  Washington,  and 
Kansas — Women  Voting  has  made  Voting  Respectable — Senate 
Report,  on  Development  of  Woman  Suffrage  — School  Suffrage  in 
Eleven  States  — Speech  of  Hon.  Albert  Griffin  — Free  Suffrage 
for  All. 

THE  worst  consequences  of  the  liquor  traffic  fall  upon 
women  and  children. 

Intemperance  is  the  most  cowardly  of  all  crimes.  I say  of 
all  crimes;  for  it  must  be  admitted  that  if  so  long  as  the 
effects  of  self-poisoning  by  the  use  of  intoxicating  beverages 
are  confined  to  the  drunkard,  the  practice  is  only  a vice , yet 
the  moment  that  he  is  led  by  it  to  violate  his  duty  to  others, 
and  trespass  upon  their  rights,  he  becomes  a criminal.  Al- 
though there  is  much  intemperance  among  women,  and  it  is 
to  be  feared  that  the  habit  is  increasing,  especially  among  the 
fast  and  wealthy  few,  still  the  gentler  sex  is  comparatively 
free  from  the  dreadful  practice,  which  is  so  common  among 
men.  Some  of  the  reasons  for  this  fact  may  be  that  the 
woman  nature,  if  not  the  better,  is  less  inclined  to  the  indul- 
gence of  coarse  animal  tendencies,  like  gluttony^  and  drunk- 
enness, that  woman  has  fewer  temptations,  and,  when  there  is 
opportunity,  is  more  readily  reclaimed.  Then,  again,  woman 
is  the  supreme  being  in  the  family,  and  instinctively  perseveres 

397 


398 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


longest  against  temptation,  adversity  and  unfortunate  envi- 
ronment, in  the  effort  to  sustain  and  preserve  the  family  bark 
from  wreck  on  the  sea  of  dissipation.  All  the  intense  feel- 
ings and  forces  of  wifehood  and  motherhood  are  rallied  for 
the  great  struggle  against  the  drink  demon  who  invades  her 
sacred  citadel.  Whoever  surrenders  to  him,  — and  sometimes 
he  captures  all  and  spares  neither  age  nor  sex,  — as  a rule, 
the  woman  who  is  wife  and  mother  yields  last. 

Intemperance  is  not  a natural  passion.  It  is  an  acquired 
appetite ; and  woman,  warned  of  its  special  horrors  reserved 
for  herself,  is  the  greatest  barrier  to  its  general  prevalence 
among  men.  Imagine  for  a moment  the  influence  of  woman 
withdrawn  from  the  warfare  against  alcohol ; or  even  that 
she  were  as  indifferent  and  inactive  in  her  opposition  to  it  as 
the  masses  of  the  other  sex  ! — Would  not  the  ravages  of  the 
traffic  be  doubled  in  five  }Tears? 

Men  alone  would  seldom  lose  a day  or  a dollar  in  temper- 
ance crusades.  The  war  for  abstinence  is  a war  for  woman 
and  for  home.  It  is  woman’s  war.  Man  may  help  her.  But 
she  fights  it,  if  it  be  fought,  and  she  wins  it,  if  it  be  won. 
It  is  her  kingdom  which  is  at  stake,  and  upon  her  success 
depend  all  the  great  interests  of  society. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  spiritual  fiber  of  woman's 
organization  is  of  a higher  type  than  that  of  man.  She  is 
more  closely  allied  with  the  moral  and  religious  elements  or 
forces  in  the  universe  — with  these  qualities  in  the  Great 
Source  of  everything.  This  is  one  of  the  differences  between 
the  sexes,  and,  like  physical  strength,  is  one  not  of  kind  but 
of  degree. 

Man  possesses  more  of  body.  It  is  not  clear  that  he  has 
the  stronger  mind  ; and  his  moral  or  spiritual  nature  is  as  much 
the  weaker  as  his  physical  is  superior  to  that  of  woman.  So 
far,  he  has  had  the  better  opportunity,  for  superior  strength 
has  enabled  him  to  seize  it,  and  brute  selfishness  has  led  him 
to  do  it.  So  the  history  of  woman  has  been  that  of  depend- 
ence— generally  of  slavery,  for  both  pets  and  drudges  are 
alike  slaves — just  as  the  refined  and  spiritual  and  good  have 
been  crucified  on  every  Calvary,  from  the  earliest  ages,  by  the 
tyranny  of  physical  force. 

IV oman  in  history  has  the  same  relation  to  man  in  history 


woman’s  enfranchisement  the  era  of  reason.  399 


that  the  purer  and  the  better  side  of  human  nature  has 
always  sustained  toward  its  less  refined  and  material  tenden- 
cies. And  as  in  the  evolution  of  the  ages  spirit  eventu- 
ally vanquishes  matter,  the  soul  the  body,  right  conquers 
wrong,  and  the  pure  and  holy  are  victorious  over  all,  and 
assert  a supremacy  which  destroys  nothing  that  should  con- 
tinue, and  chastens  selfishness  only  so  far  as  to  convert  its 
strength  into  a source  of  good,  elevating  and  refilling  and 
preserving  those  qualities  which  unrestrained  have  tyrannized 
and  destroyed,  so  in  the  higher  and  holier  and  happier  ages 
upon  "which  we  are  now  surely  entering,  the  complete  en- 
franchisement of  woman  is  the  primal  condition  and  basic 
fact  which  will  mark  the  era  of  the  dominance  of  reason  and 
conscience  in  the  affairs  of  the  race. 

But,  even  if  this  were  not  so,  the  very  selfishness  of  woman 
compels  her  to  be  the  enemy  of  rum ; for  rum  destroj^s  her 
home  as  the  serpent  despoils  the  mother-bird  of  her  brood. 
While  I believe  that  " ever  the  right  comes  uppermost,  and 
that  ever  is  justice  done,”  and  that  the  various  forces  of 
" moral  suasion  ” would  in  the  end  remove  the  liquor  traffic, 
yet  it  takes  too  long  — too  many  ages  — and  we  cannot  wait. 

And  again,  it  is  a part  of  the  order  of  nature  that  the 
ruling  force  in  society  should  embody  itself  in  law.  Gov- 
ernment is  a natural  institution,  although  in  its  forms  it  may 
be  modified  by  the  will  of  men.  'When  society  is  informed 
of  any  great  evil  and  of  the  remedy,  it  will  remove  that  evil 
if  it  be  strong  enough  to  do  it.  The  evil  of  alcoholic  intoxi- 
cation  is  one  of  the  greatest  which  have  ever  afflicted  human- 
ity. Society  is  becoming  informed  of  this  fact,  and  is 
anxiously  endeavoring  to  remove  it ; so  far  with  but  partial 
success.  Public  sentiment  has  already  in  many  cases  taken 
on  the  form  of  laws  which,  being  defective  or  defectively 
executed,  have  failed  — some  totally,  all  partially  failed. 
Why  has  the  law  failed  ? Why  has  it  been  defective  ? Why, 
when  its  terms  were  efficient,  has  it  still  tailed  in  execution? 
Is  there  any  force  in  society  not  yet  utilized,  and  which  can 
be  and  therefore  must  be  utilized,  in  order  to  give  and  exe- 
cute good  laws  for  the  destruction  ot  the  traffic  in  poison 
drinks?  I believe  that  the  suffrage  of  woman  is  indispensa- 
ble to  the  success  of  the  temperance  reform. 


400 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


But  I know  that  suffrage  will  never  he  given  to  woman  in 
so  important  a matter  as  this,  unless  by  the  concession  of  the 
correctness  of  a principle,  which,  if  granted,  will  sooner  or 
later  confer  complete  freedom  in  the  exercise  of  suffrage  upon 
womanhood  just  as  it  is  exercised  by  man.  When  this  is 
done,  we  shall  hear,  not  of  manhood  suffrage  nor  of  woman- 
hood suffrage,  but  of  soul-suffrage.  In  the  soul  is  the  source 
of  the  right ; and  whoever  has  a mature  human  soul  is,  under 
our  form  of  government,  entitled  to  human  suffrage.  Human 
suffrage  is  its  true  name.  Let  us  baptize  it  thus. 

Therefore,  it  becomes  necessary  to  examine  briefly  the 
general  subject  of  the  suffrage,  since  we  cannot  hope  nor  do 
we  care  for  its  concession  to  woman  to  be  applied  to  one 
purpose  alone,  however  important  that  purpose  may  be. 


FOUNDATION  OF  THE  RIGHT  OF  SUFFRAGE. 

If  there  be  any  principle  upon  which  our  form  of  govern- 
ment is  founded,  and  wherein  it  is  different  from  aristocracies, 
monarchies  and  despotisms,  that  principle  is  this  : 

Every  human  being  of  mature  powers,  not  disqualified  by 
ignorance,  vice  or  crime,  is  the  equal  of  and  is  entitled  to  all 
the  rights  and  privileges  which  belong  to  any  other  such 
human  being  under  the  law. 

The  independence,  equality  and  dignity  of  all  human  souls 
is  the  fundamental  assertion  of  those  who  believe  in  what  we 
call  human  freedom.  ■ This  principle  will  hardly  be  denied  by 
any  one,  even  by  those  who  oppose  the  extension  of  suffrage 
to  women.  But  we  are  informed  that  infants,  idiots  and 
women  are  represented  by  men.  This  cannot  reasonably  be 
claimed  unless  it  be  first  shown  that  the  consent  of  these 
classes  has  been  given  to  such  representation,  or  that  they 
lack  the  capacity  to  consent.  But  the  exclusion  of  these 
classes  from  participation  in  the  government  deprives  them 
of  the  power  of  assent  to  representation  even  when  they  pos- 
sess the  requisite  ability ; and  to  say  there  can  be  represen- 
tation which  does  not  presuppose  consent  or  authority  on  the 
part  of  the  principal  who  is  represented,  is  to  confound  all 
reason,  and  to  assert,  in  substance,  that  all  actual  power, 
whether  despotic  or  otherwise,  is  representative,  and  there- 


Mrs . Z.  G.  Wallace , 

Superintendent  Franchise  Dep't,  National  IV.  C.  T.  U. 


BASIS  OF  BIGHT  OF  SUFFRAGE. 


401 


fore  free.  In  this  sense  the  Czar  represents  his  whole  people, 
just  as  voting  men  represent  women  who  do  not  vote  at  all. 

True  it  is  that  the  voting  men,  by  excluding  women  and 
other  classes  from  the  suffrage,  by  that  act  charge  themselves 
with  the  trust  of  administering  justice  to  all,  even  as  the 
monarch  whose  power  is  based  upon  force  is  bound  to  rule 
uprightly.  But  if  it  be  true  that  " all  just  government  is 
founded  upon  the  consent  of  the  governed,”  then  the  govern- 
ment of  woman  by  man,  without  her  consent,  given  in  her 
sovereign  capacity,  if,  indeed,  she  be  an  intelligent  creature, 
and  provided  she  be  competent  to  exercise  the  power  of  suf- 
frage, which  is  the  sovereignty,  even  if  that  government  be 
wise  and  just  in  itself,  is  a violation  of  natural  right,  and  an 
enforcement  of  servitude  and  slavery  against  her  on  the  part 
of  man.  If  woman,  like  the  infant  or  the  defective  classes, 
be  incapable  of  self-government,  then  republican  society  may 
exclude  her  from  all  participation  in  the  enactment  and 
enforcement  of  the  laws  under  which  she  lives.  But  in  that 
case,  like  the  infant  and  the  fool  and  the  unconsenting  subject 
of  tyrannical  forms  of  government,  she  is  ruled  and  not  rep- 
resented by  man. 

Thus  much  I desire  to  say  in  the  beginning,  in  reply  to  the 
broad  assumption  of  those  who  deny  women  the  suffrage  by 
saying  that  1 1 ) ey  are  already  represented  by  their  fathers,  their 
husbands,  their  brothers,  and  their  sons,  or  to  state  the  propo- 
sition in  its  only  proper  form,  that  woman,  whose  assent  can 
only  be  given  by  an  exercise  of  sovereignty  on  her  part,  is 
represented  by  man,  who  denies  and  by  virtue  of  power  and 
possession  refuses  to  her  the  exercise  of  the  suffrage  whereby 
that  representation  can  be  made  valid. 

The  claim,  then,  that  woman  is  represented  by  the  other 
sex  is  not  well  founded,  and  is  based  upon  the  same  assump- 
tion of  power  which  lies  at  the  base  of  all  government  anti- 
republican in  form.  It  can  not  be  claimed  that  she  is,  as  a 
free  being,  already  represented,  for  she  can  only  be  repre- 
sented according  to  her  will  by  the  exercise  of  her  will 
through  the  suffrage  itself. 

As  already  observed,  the  exclusion  of  woman  from  the 
suffrage  under  our  form  of  government  can  be  justified  upon 
proof,  and  only  upon  proof,  that  by  reason  of  her  sex  she 
26 


402 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


is  incompetent  to  exercise  that  power.  This  is  a question 
of  fact. 

The  common  ground  upon  which  all  agree  may  be  stated 
thus  : All  males  having  certain  qualifications  are  in  reason  and 
in  law  entitled  to  vote.  Those  qualifications  affect  either  the 
body  or  the  mind,  or  both. 

First,  the  attainment  of  a certain  age.  The  age,  in  itself, 
is  not  material,  but  maturity  of  mental  and  moral  develop- 
ment is  material,  soundness  of  body,  in  itself,  not  being 
essential,  and  want  of  it  alone  never  working  forfeiture  of 
the  right,  although  it  may  prevent  its  exercise. 

Age,  as  a qualification  for  suffrage,  is  by  no  means  to  be 
confounded  with  age  as  a qualification  for  service  in  war. 
Society  has  well  established  the  distinction,  and  that  one  has 
no  relation  whatever  to  the  other ; the  one  having  reference 
to  physical  prowess,  while  the  other  relates  only  to  the  mental 
and  moral  state.  This  is  shown  by  the  ages  fixed  by  law  for 
these  qualifications,  that  of  eighteen  years  being  fixed  as  the 
commencement  of  the  term  of  presumed  fitness  for  military 
service,  and  forty-five  years  as  the  period  of  its  termination  ; 
while  the  age  of  presumed  fitness  for  the  suffrage,  which 
requires  no  physical  superiority  certainly,  is  set  at  twenty- 
one  years,  when  still  greater  strength  of  bod}r  has  been 
attained  than  at  the  period  when  liability  to  the  dangers  and 
hardships  of  war  commences  ; and  there  are  at  least  three 
million  more  male  voters  in  our  country  than  of  the  popu- 
lation liable  by  law  to  the  performance  of  military  duty.  It 
is  still  further  to  be  observed  that  the  right  of  suffrage  con- 
tinues as  long  as  the  mind  lasts,  while  ordinary  liability  to 
military  service  ceases  at  a period  when  the  physical  powers, 
though  still  strong,  are  beginning  to  wane.  The  truth  is 
that  there  is  no  legal  or  natural  connection  between  the  right 
or  liability  to  fight  and  the  right  to  vote. 

The  right  to  fight  may  be  exercised  voluntarily,  or  the  lia- 
bility to  fight  may  be  enforced  by  the  community  whenever 
there  is  an  invasion  of  right,  and  the  extent  to  which  the 
physical  forces  of  society  may  be  called  upon  in  self-defense, 
or  in  justifiable  revolution,  is  measured  not  by  age  or  sex, 
but  by  necessity,  and  may  go  so  far  as  to  call  into  the  field 
old  men  and  women  and  the  last  vestige  of  physical  force. 


QUALIFICATIONS  OF  SUFFRAGE. 


403 


It  can  not  be  claimed  that  woman  has  no  right  to  vote  because 
she  is  not  liable  to  fight,  for  she  is  so  liable ; and  the  freest 
government  on  the  face  of  the  earth  has  the  reserved  power, 
under  the  call  of  necessity,  to  place  her  in  the  forefront  of 
battle  itself ; and,  more  than  this,  woman  has  the  right,  and 
often  has  exercised  it,  to  go  there. 

If  any  one  could  question  the  existence  of  this  reserved 
power  of  society  to  call  the  force  of  woman  to  the  common 
defense,  either  in  the  hospital  or  the  field,  it  would  be  woman, 
who  has  been  deprived  of  participation  in  the  government 
and  in  shaping  the  public  policy  which  has  resulted  in  dire 
emergency  to  the  State.  But  in  all  times,  and  under  all  forms 
of  government  and  of  social  existence,  woman  has  given  her 
body  and  her  soul  to  the  common  defense. 

The  qualification  of  age,  then,  is  imposed  for  the  purpose 
of  securing  mental  and  moral  fitness  for  the  suffrage  on  the 
part  of  those  "who  exercise  it.  It  has  no  relation  to  the  pos- 
session of  physical  powers  at  all. 

All  other  qualifications  imposed  upon  male  citizens,  save 
only  that  of  their  sex,  as  prerequisites  to  the  exercise  of  suf- 
frage, have  the  same  objects  in  view,  and  can  have  no  other. 

The  property  qualification  is,  to  my  mind,  an  invasion  of 
natural  right,  which  elevates  mere  property  to  an  equality 
with  life  and  personal  liberty,  and  ought  never  to  be  imposed 
upon  the  suffrage.  But,  however  that  may  be,  its  application 
or  removal  has  no  relation  to  sex,  and  its  only  object  is  to 
secure  the  exercise  of  the  suffrage  under  a stronger  sense  of 
obligation  and  responsibility  — a qualification,  be  it  observed, 
of  no  consequence  save  as  it  influences  the  mind  of  the  voter 
in  the  exercise  of  his  right. 

The  same  is  true  of  the  qualifications  of  sanity,  education, 
and  obedience  to  the  laws,  which  exclude  dementia,  ignorance 
and  crime  from  participation  in  the  sovereignty.  Every  con- 
dition or  qualification  imposed  upon  the  exercise  of  the  suf- 
frage by  the  citizens,  save  only  sex,  has  for  its  only  object  or 
possible  justification  the  possession  of  mental  and  moral  fit- 
ness, and  has  no  relation  to  physical  power. 

The  question  then  arises,  Why  is  the  qualification  of  mas- 
culinity required  at  all  ? 

The  distinction  between  human  beings  by  reasons  of  sex  is 


404 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


a physical  distinction.  The  soul  is  of  no  sex.  If  there  be  a 
distinction  of  soul,  by  reason  of  the  physical  diffei’ence,  or 
accompanying  that  physical  difference,  woman  is  the  superior 
of  man  in  mental  and  moral  qualities.  In  proof  of  this  see 
all  the  eulogiums  of  woman  pronounced  by  those  who,  like 
the  serpent  of  old,  would  flatter  her  vanity  that  they  may 
continue  to  wield  her  power. 

I repeat  it  that  the  soul  is  of  no  sex,  and  that  sex  is,  so 
far  as  the  possession  and  exercise  of  human  rights  and  powers 
are  concerned,  but  a physical  property,  in  which  the  female 
is  just  as  important  as  the  male,  and  the  possessor  thereof 
under  just  as  great  need  of  power  in  the  organization  and 
management  of  society,  and  the  government  of  society,  as 
man ; and  if  there  be  a difference,  she,  by  reason  of  her 
average  physical  inferiority,  is  really  protected,  and  ought  to 
be  protected,  by  a superior  mental  and  moral  fitness  to  give 
direction  to  the  course  of  society  and  the  policy  of  the  State. 
If,  then,  there  be  a distinction  between  the  souls  of  human 
beings  resulting  from  sex.  I claim  that,  by  the  universal  testi- 
mony of  all  men,  woman  is  better  fitted  for  the  exercise  of 
the  suffrage  than  man. 

It  is  claimed  by  some  that  the  suffrage  is  an  inherent 
natural  right,  and  by  others  that  it  is  merely  a privilege 
extended  to  the  individual  by  society  in  its  discretion. 
However  this  may  be,  practically  any  extension  of  the 
exercise  of  the  suffrage  to  individuals  or  classes  not  now 
enjoying  it,  must  be  by  concession  of  those  who  already 
possess  it,  and  such  extension  without  revolution  will  be 
through  the  suffrage  itself,  exercised  by  those  who  have  it 
under  existing  forms. 

The  appeal  by  those  who  have  it  not  must  be  made  to 
those  who  are  asked  to  part  with  a portion  of  their  own 
power,  and  it  is  not  strange  that  human  nature,  which  is  an 
essential  element  in  the  male  sex,  should  hesitate  and  delay 
to  yield  one-half  its  power  to  those  whose  cause,  however 
strong  in  reason  and  justice,  lacks  that  physical  force  which 
so  largely  has  been  the  means  by  which  the  masses  of  men 
themselves  have  wrung  their  own  rights  from  rulers  and 
kings. 

Give  woman  justice,  or  a chance  to  take  what  belongs  to 


woman’s  title  to  the  franchise . 


405 


her,  if  she  wants  to.  After  that  we  can  talk  of  protection, 
if  she  needs  it.  Will  woman  be  less  attractive,  because  she 
can  vote?  Will  she  be  less  of  a necessity  or  less  of  a luxury 
in  human  affairs?  If  she  can  do  so  much  without  the  ballot, 
what  could  she  not  accomplish  with  it?  It  is  a false  pretense 
that  men  withhold  the  ballot  for  her  sake  ; it  is  for  their  own. 
It  is  greed  of  power  — poor,  mean  jealousy  of  woman  in  fair, 
open  competition,  and  fear  of  subjugation  from  reduction  to 
our  own  aliquot  part  of  power  in  society.  That  is  what  ails 
us  men.  Eye-rolling  ranters  about  the  angelic  sweetness  of 
woman,  etc.,  and  the  contamination  of  the  ballot  should  have 
their  feelings  submitted  to  chemical  analysis. 

It  is  not  strange  that  when  overwhelmed  with  argument 
and  half  won  by  appeals  to  his  better  nature  to  concede  to 
woman  her  equal  power  in  the  State,  and  ashamed  to  blankly 
refuse  that  which  he  finds  no  reason  for  longer  withholding, 
man  avoids  the  dilemma  by  a pretended  elevation  of  his  help- 
meet to  a higher  sphere,  where,  as  an  angel,  she  has  certain 
gauzy  ethereal  resources  and  superior  functions,  occupations 
and  attributes  which  render  the  possession  of  mere  earthly 
every-day  powTers  and  privileges  non-essential  to  woman, 
however  mere  mortal  men  themselves  may  find  them  indis- 
pensable to  their  own  freedom  and  happiness. 

But  to  the  denial  of  her  right  to  vote,  whether  that  denial 
be  the  blunt  refusal  of  the  ignorant  or  the  polished  evasion 
of  the  refined  courtier  and  politician,  tvoman  can  oppose  only 
her  most  solemn  and  perpetual  appeal  to  the  reason  of  man 
and  to  the  justice  of  Almighty  God.  She  must  continually 
point  out  the  nature  and  object  of  the  suffrage,  and  the 
necessity  that  she  possess  it  for  her  oavii  and  the  public  good. 

What,  then,  is  the  suffrage,  and  avhy  is  it  necessary 

THAT  AA'OMAN  SHOULD  POSSESS  AND  EXERCISE  THIS  FUNCTION 
OF  FREEMEN? 

I will  quote  briefly  from  the  report  of  the  majority  of 
the  Senate  Committee  on  Woman  Suffrage,  Avhick  I had  the 
honor  to  submit  during  the  first  session  of  the  49th  Congress  : 

The  rights  for  the  maintenance  of  Avhich  human  governments 
are  constituted  are  life,  liberty  and  property.  These  rights  are 
common  to  men  and  women  alike,  and  whatever  citizen  or  subject 


406 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


exists  as  a member  of  any  body-politic,  under  any  form  of  govern- 
ment, is  entitled  to  demand  from  the  sovereign  power  the  full 
protection  of  these  rights. 

This  right  to  the  protection  of  rights  appertains  to  the  individ- 
ual, not  to  the  family  alone,  or  to  any  form  of  association,  whether 
social  or  corporate.  Probably  not  more  than  five-eighths  of  the 
men  of  legal  age,  qualified  to  vote,  are  heads  of  families,  and  not 
more  than  that  proportion  of  adult  women  are  united  with  men  in 
the  legal  merger  of  married  life.  It  is,  therefore,  quite  incorrect 
to  speak  of  the  State  as  an  aggregate  of  families  duly  represented 
at  the  ballot-box  by  their  male  head.  The  relation  between  the 
government  and  the  individual  is  direct ; all  rights  are  individual 
rights,  all  duties  are  individual  duties. 

Government  in  its  two  highest  functions  is  legislative  and 
judicial.  By  these  powers  the  sovereignty  prescribes  the  law, 
and  directs  its  application  to  the  vindication  of  rights  and  the 
redress  of  wrongs.  Conscience  and  intelligence  are  the  only 
forces  which  enter  into  the  exercise  of  this  highest  and  primary 
function  of  government.  The  remaining  department  is  the  exec- 
utive or  administrative,  and  in  all  forms  of  government  — the 
republican  as  well  as  in  tyranny  — the  primary  element  of  admin- 
istration is  force,  and  even  in  this  department  conscience  and  intel- 
ligence are  indispensable  to  its  direction. 

If,  now,  we  are  to  decide  who  of  our  sixty  millions  of  human 
beings  are  to  constitute  the  citizenship  of  this  republic,  and  by 
virtue  of  their  qualifications  to  be  the  law-making  power,  by  what 
tests  shall  the  selection  be  determined  ? 

The  suffrage,  which  is  the  sovereignty,  is  this  great  primary  law- 
making power.  It  is  not  the  executive  power  proper  at  all.  It  is 
not  founded  upon  force.  Only  that  degree  of  physical  strength 
which  is  essential  to  a sound  body  — the  home  of  the  healthy 
mental  and  moral  constitution  — the  sound  soul  in  the  sound  body 
is  required  in  the  performance  of  the  function  of  primary  legisla- 
tion. Never  in  the  history  of  this  or  any  other  genuine  republic 
has  the  law-making  power,  whether  in  general  elections  or  in  the 
framing  of  laws  in  legislative  assemblies,  been  vested  in  individ- 
uals Avho  have  exercised  it  by  reason  of  their  physical  powers. 
On  the  contrary,  the  physically  weak  have  never  for  that  reason 
been  deprived  of  the  suffrage  nor  of  the  privilege  of  service  in 
the  public  councils  so  long  as  they  possessed  the  necessary  powers 
of  locomotion  and  expression,  of  conscience  and  intelligence, 
which  are  common  to  all.  The  aged  and  the  physically  weak 
have,  as  a rule,  by  reason  of  superior  wisdom  and  moral  sense, 
far  more  than  made  good  any  bodily  inferiority  by  which  they 


U.  S.  SENATE  REPORT  ON  SUFFRAGE. 


407 


have  differed  from  the  more  robust  members  of  the  commu- 
nity in  the  discussion  and  decisions  of  the  ballot-box  and  in  the 
councils  of  State. 

The  executive  power  of  itself  is  a mere  physical  instrumentality 
— an  animal  quality  — and  it  is  confided  from  necessity  to  those 
individuals  who  possess  that  quality,  but  always  with  danger, 
except  so  far  as  wisdom  and  virtue  control  its  exercise.  And  it  is 
obvious  that  the  greater  the  mass  of  higher  and  spiritual  forces, 
whether  found  in  those  to  whom  the  execution  of  the  law  is 
assigned,  or  in  the  great  mass  by  whom  the  suffrage  is  exercised, 
and  who  direct  the  execution  of  the  law,  the  greater  will  be  the 
safety  and  the  surer  will  be  the  happiness  of  the  State. 

It  is  too  late  to  question  the  intellectual  and  moral  capacity  of 
woman  to  understand  great  political  issues  (which  are  always 
primarily  questions  of  conscience  — questions  of  the  intelligent 
application  of  the  principles  of  right  and  of  wrong  in  public  and 
private  affairs)  and  properly  decide  them  at  the  polls.  Indeed,  so 
far  as  your  committee  are  aware,  the  pretense  is  no  longer  ad- 
vanced that  woman  should  not  vote  by  reason  of  her  mental  or 
moral  unfitness  to  perform  this  legislative  function  ; but  the  suf- 
frage is  denied  to  her  because  she  can  not  hang  criminals,  suppress 
mobs,  nor  handle  the  enginery  of  war.  We  have  already  seen 
the  untenable  nature  of  this  assumption,  because  those  who  make 
it  bestow  the  suffrage  upon  very  large  classes  of  men  who,  how- 
ever well  qualified  they  may  be  to  vote,  are  physically  unable  to 
perform  any  of  the  duties  which  appertain  to  the  execution  of 
the  law  and  the  defense  of  the  State.  Scarcely  a senator  on  this 
floor  is  liable  by  law  to  perform  a military  or  other  administrative 
duty,  yet  the  rule  so  many  set  up  against  the  right  of  women  to 
vote  would  disfranchise  nearly  this  whole  body. 

But  it  is  unnecessary  to  grant  that  woman  can  not  fight.  His- 
tory is  full  of  examples  of  her  heroism  in  danger,  of  her  endur- 
ance and  fortitude  in  trial,  and  of  her  indispensable  and  supreme 
service  in  hospital  and  field  ; and  in  the  handling  of  the  deft  and 
horrible  machinery  and  infernal  agencies  which  science  and  art 
have  prepared,  and  are  preparing  for  human  destruction  in  future 
wars,  woman  may  perform  her  whole  part  in  the  common  assault 
or  the  common  defense.  It  is  hardly  worth  while  to  consider  this 
trivial  objection  that  she  is  incompetent  for  purposes  of  national 
murder  or  of  bloody  self-defense  as  the  basis  of  the  denial  of  a 
great  fundamental  right,  when  we  consider  that  if  that  right  were 
given  to  her  she  would  by  its  exercise  almost  certainly  abolish  this 
great  crime  of  the  nations,  which  has  always  inflicted  upon  her 
the  chief  burden  of  woe. 


408 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


It  will  be  admitted  that  the  act  of  voting  is  operative  in 
government  only  as  a means  of  deciding  upon  the  adoption 
or  rejection  of  measures  or  of  the  selection  of  officers  to 
enact,  administer,  and  execute  the  laws. 

It  also  must  be  admitted  that  in  the  discharge  of  these 
functions  intelligence  and  conscience  are  the  faculties  requi- 
site to  secure  their  proper  performance. 

In  this  day,  when  woman  has  demonstrated  that  she  is  fully 
the  intellectual  equal  of  man  in  the  profound  as  well  as  in  the 
politer  walks  of  learning  — in  art,  science,  literature,  and, 
considering  her  opportunities,  that  she  is  not  his  inferior  in 
any  of  the  professions  or  in  the  great  mass  of  useful  occupa- 
tions, while  she  is,  in  fact,  becoming  the  chief  educator  of 
the  race,  and  is  the  acknowledged  support  of  the  great  min- 
istrations of  charity  and  religion  ; when  in  such  great  organ- 
izations as  the  suffrage  associations,  missionary  societies, 
the  National  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union,  and 
even  upon  the  still  larger  scale  of  international  action,  she 
has  exhibited  her  power  by  mere  moral  influences  and  the 
inspiration  of  great  purposes,  without  the  aid  of  legal  penal- 
ties or  even  of  tangible  inconveniences,  to  mould  and  direct 
the  discordant  thought  and  action  of  thousands  and  millions 
of  people  scattered  over  separate  States,  and  sometimes  even 
living  in  countries  hostile  to  each  other,  to  the  accomplish- 
ment of  great  earthly  or  heavenly  ends,  it  is  unreasonable 
to  deny  to  woman  the  suffrage  in  political  affairs  upon  the 
false  allegation  that  she  is  wanting  in  the  very  qualities  most 
indispensable  and  requisite  for  the  proper  exercise  of  this 
great  right. 

The  advocates  of  universal  male  suffrage  have  long  since 
ceased  to  deny  the  ballot  to  woman  upon  the  ground  that 
she  is  unfit  or  incompetent  to  exercise  it. 

There  is  a class  of  high-stepping  objectors, like  Ouida,  who 
decry  the  sound  judgment  and  moral  excellence  of  woman  as 
compared  with  man,  but  in  the  same  breath  these  people 
deny  the  suffrage  to  the  masses  of  men,  and  advocate  "the 
just  supremacy  of  the  fittest,”  so  that  no  time  need  be  wasted 
in  refutation  of  those  malignant  and  libelous  aspersions  upon 
our  mothers,  sisters  and  wives,  which,  when  carried  to  logi- 
cal conclusions  by  their  own  authors,  deny  the  fundamental 


Mrs.  A ngie  P.  Newman, 

Lincoln,  Neb. 


MATERNITY  NO  DISQUALIFICATION. 


409 


principles  of  liberty  to  man  and  woman  alike,  and  reassert 
in  its  baldest  form  the  dogma  that  " the  existing  system  of 
electoral  power  all  over  the  world  is  absurd,  and  will  remain 
so  because  in  no  nation  is  there  the  courage,  perhaps  in  no 
nation  is  there  the  intellectual  power,  capable  of  putting  for- 
ward and  sustaining  the  logical  doctrine  of  the  just  suprem- 
acy of  the  fittest.” 

In  fact,  all  honest,  intelligent  men,  who  believe  in  the 
republican  system  of  government  at  all,  concede  that  woman 
has  the  capacity  and  moral  fitness  requisite  to  exercise  the 
ballot. 

There  is  no  escape  from  it.  The  discussion  has  passed  so 
far  that  among  intelligent  people  who  believe  in  the 
republican  form  — that  is,  free  government  — all  mature 
men  and  women  have  under  the  same  circumstances  and  con- 
ditions the  same  rights  to  defend,  the  same  grievances  to 
redress,  and,  therefore,  the  same  necessity  for  the  exercise 
of  this  great  fundamental  right  of  all  human  beings  in  free 
society.  For  the  right  to  vote  is  the  great  primitive  right. 
It  is  the  right  in  which  all  freedom  originates  and  culminates. 
It  is  the  right  from  which  all  others  spring,  in  which 
they  merge,  and  without  which  they  fall  whenever  assailed. 

This  right  makes,  and  is  all  the  difference  between  govern- 
ment by  and  with  the  consent  of  the  governed  and  government 
without  and  against  the  consent  of  the  governed  ; and  that  is 
the  difference  between  freedom  and  slavery.  If  the  right  to 
vote  be  not  that  difference,  what  is?  If  either  sex  as  a class 
can  dispense  with  the  right  to  vote,  then  take  it  from  the 
strong,  and  no  longer  rob  the  weak  of  their  defense  for  the 
benefit  of  the  strong. 

But  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  the  suffrage  as  a right 
dependent  at  all  upon  such  an  irrelevant  condition  as  sex. 
It  is  an  individual,  a personal  right.  It  may  be  withheld 
by  force ; but  if  withheld  by  reason  of  sex  it  is  a moral 
robbery. 

But  it  is  said  that  the  duties  of  maternity  disqualify  for 
the  performance  of  the  act  of  voting.  It  can  not  be,  and,  I 
think,  is  not  claimed  by  any  one,  that  the  mother,  who  other- 
wise would  be  fit  to  vote,  is  rendered  mentally  or  morally 
less  fit  to  exercise  this  high  function  in  the  State  because  of 


410 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


motherhood.  On  the  contrary,  if  any  woman  has  a motive 
more  than  another  person,  man  or  woman,  to  secure  the 
enactment  and  enforcement  of  good  laws,  it  is  the  mother, 
who,  beside  her  own  life,  person,  and  property,  to  the  pro- 
tection of  which  the  ballot  is  as  essential  as  to  the  same 
rights  possessed  by  man,  has  her  little  contingent  of  immor- 
tal beings  to  conduct  safely  to  the  portals  of  active  life 
through  all  the  snares  and  pitfalls  woven  around  them  by 
bad  men,  and  bad  laws  which  bad  men  have  made,  or  good 
laws  which  bad  men,  unhindered  by  the  good,  have  defied  or 
have  prostituted,  and  rightly  to  prepare  them  for  the  dis- 
charge of  all  the  duties  of  their  day  and  generation,  includ- 
ing the  exercise  of  the  very  right  denied  to  their  mother. 

Certainly,  if  but  for  motherhood  she  should  vote,  then  ten 
thousand  times  more  necessary  is  it  that  the  mother  should 
be  guarded  and  armed  with  this  great  social  and  political 
power,  for  the  sake  of  all  men  and  women  who  are  yet  to  be. 
But  it  is  said  that  she  has  not  the  time.  Let  us  see.  B}r 
the  best  deductions  I can  make  from  the  census  and  from 
other  sources  there  are  15,000,000  women  of  voting  age  in 
this  country  at  the  present  time,  of  whom  not  more  than  10,- 
000,000  are  married,  and  not  more  than  7,500,000  are  still 
liable  to  the  duties  of  maternity,  for  it  will  be  remembered  that 
a large  proportion  of  the  mothers  of  our  country  at  any  given 
time  are  below  the  voting  age,  while  of  those  who  are  above 
it  another  large  proportion  have  passed  beyond  the  point  of 
this  objection.  Xot  more  than  one-half  the  female  popula- 
tion of  voting  age  are  liable  to  this  objection.  Then,  why 
disfranchise  the  7,500,000,  the  other  half,  as  to  whom  your 
objection,  even  if  valid  as  to  any,  does  not  apply  at  all ; and 
these,  too,  as  a class  the  most  mature,  and  therefore  the  best 
qualified  to  vote  of  any  of  their  sex?  But  how  much  is  there 
of  this  objection  of  want  of  time  or  physical  strength  to  vote 
in  its  application  to  women  who  are  bearing  and  training  the 
coming  millions  ? The  families  of  the  country  average  five 
persons  in  number.  If  we  assume  that  this  gives  an  average 
of  three  children  to  every  pair,  which  is  probably  the  full 
number,  or  if  we  assume  that  every  married  mother,  after 
she  becomes  of  voting  age,  bears  three  children,  which  is 
certainly  the  full  allowance,  and  that  twenty-four  yeai’s  are 


MOTHERHOOD  A REASON  FOR  SUFFRAGE. 


411 


consumed  in  doing  it,  there  is  one  child  born  every  eight 
years,  whose  coming  is  to  interfere  with  the  exercise  of  a 
duty  or  privilege  which,  in  most  States,  and  in  all  the  most 
important  elections,  occurs  only  one  day  in  two  years. 

That  same  mother  will  attend  church  at  least  forty  times 
yearly,  on  the  average,  from  her  cradle  to  her  grave,  beside 
an  infinity  of  other  social,  religious,  and  industrial  obligations 
which  she  performs  and  assumes  to  perform  because  she  is  a 
married  woman  and  a mother,  rather  than  for  any  other  rea- 
son whatever.  Yet  it  is  proposed  to  deprive  women  — yes, 
all  women  alike  — of  an  inestimable  privilege  and  the  chief 
power  which  can  be  exercised  by  any  free  individual  in  the 
State,  for  the  reason  that  on  any  given  day  of  election  not 
more  than  one  woman  in  twenty  of  voting  age  will  probably 
not  be  able  to  reach  the  polls.  It  does  seem  probable  that  on 
these  interesting'  occasions  if  the  husband  and  wife  disagree 
in  politics  they  could  arrange  a pair,  and  the  probability  is, 
that  arrangement  failing,  one  could  be  consummated  with 
some  other  lady  in  like  fortunate  circumstances  of  opposite 
political  opinions.  More  men  are  kept  from  the  polls  by 
drunkenness,  or,  being  at  the  polls,  vote  under  the  influence 
of  strong  drink,  to  the  reproach  and  destruction  of  our  free 
institutions,  and  who,  if  woman  could  and  did  vote,  would 
cast  the  ballot  of  sobriety,  good  order,  and  reform,  under 
her  holy  influences,  than  all  those  who  would  be  kept  from 
any  given  election  by  the  necessary  engagements  of  mothers 
at  home. 

When  one  thinks  of  the  innumerable  and  trifling  causes 
which  keep  many  of  the  best  of  men  and  strongest  opponents 
of  woman  suffrage  from  the  polls  upon  important  occasions, 
it  is  difficult  to  be  tolerant  of  the  objection  that  woman,  by 
reason  of  motherhood,  has  no  time  to  vote.  The  greater 
exposure  of  man  to  the  casualties  of  life  actually  disables 
him  in  such  way  as  to  make  it  physically  impossible  for  him 
to  exercise  the  franchise  more  frequently  than  is  the  case 
with  women,  including  mothers  and  all.  And  if  this  liability 
to  lose  the  opportunity  to  exercise  the  right  once  or  possibly 
twice  in  a lifetime  is  a reason  that  women  should  not  be 
allowed  to  vote  at  all,  why  should  men  not  be  disfranchised 
also  by  the  same  rule  ? 


412 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


But  it  is  urged  that  woman  does  not  desire  the  privilege. 
If  the  right  exist  at  all,  it  is  an  individual  right,  and  not  one 
which  belongs  to  a class  or  to  the  sex  as  such.  Yet  men  tell 
us  that  they  will  vote  the  suffrage  to  women  whenever  the 
majority  of  women  desire  it.  Are,  then,  our  rights  the 
property  of  the  majority  of  a disfranchised  class  to  which 
we  may  chance  to  belong?  What  would  we  say  if  it  were 
seriously  proposed  to  recall  the  suffrage  from  all  colored  or 
from  all  white  men  because  a majority  of  either  class  should 
decline  or  for  any  cause  fail  to  vote?  I know  that  it  is  said 
that  the  suffrage  is  a privilege  to  be  extended  by  those  who 
have  it  to  those  who  have  it  not.  But  the  matter  of  right, 
of  moral  right,  to  the  franchise  does  not  depend  upon  the 
indifference  of  those  who  possess  it,  or  of  those  who  do  not 
possess  it,  to  the  desire  of  those  women  who  wish  to  enjoy 
their  right  and  to  discharge  their  duty.  If  one  or  many 
choose  not  to  claim  their  right,  it  is  no  argument  for  depriving 
me  of  mine,  or  one  woman  of  hers.  There  are  many  reasons 
why  some  women  declare  themselves  opposed  to  the  exten- 
sion of  suffrage  to  their  sex.  Some  well  fed  and  pampered, 
■without  serious  experiences  in  life,  are  incapable  of  compre- 
hending the  subject  at  all.  Vast  numbers,  who  secretly  and 
earnestly  desire  it,  from  the  long  habit  of  deference  to  the 
wishes  of  the  other  sex,  upon  whom  they  are  so  entirely 
dependent  while  disfranchised,  and  knowing  the  hostility  of 
their  " protectors  ” to  the  agitation  of  the  subject,  conceal 
their  real  sentiments,  and  the  " lord  ” of  the  family,  referring 
this  question  to  his  wife,  who  has  heard  him  sneer,  or  worse 
than  sneer,  at  suffragists  for  half  a lifetime,  ought  not  to 
expect  an  answer  which  she  knows  will  subject  her  to  his 
censure  and  ridicule,  or  even  his  unexpressed  disappro- 
bation. 

It  is  like  the  old  appeal  of  the  master  to  his  slave,  to  know 
if  he  would  be  free.  Full  well  did  the  wise  and  wary  slave 
know  that  happiness  depended  upon  declared  contentment 
with  his  lot.  But,  all  the  same,  the  world  does  move.  Col- 
ored men  are  free.  Colored  men  vote.  Women  will  vote. 
If  colored  women  vote,  their  votes  will  be  cast  quite  as 
intelligently  as  those  of  colored  men.  There  will  be  one 
million  of  them.  White  women  will  vote,  and  there  are  two 


SCHISM  IN  FAMILIES. 


413 


of  them  to  one  colored  woman  all  through  the  South,  and  in 
the  whole  country  ten  times  as  many.  How,  then,  is  the 
quality  of  the  suffrage  to  be  injured  by  reason  of  color, 
unless  the  white  color  is  the  inferior?  The  suggestion  is 
dishonorable.  To  such  paltry  talk  are  the  opponents  of 
woman  suffrage  driven  by  the  truth.  A little  further  on, 
I shall  revert  to  the  evidence  of  a general  and  growing 
desire  on  her  part,  and  on  the  part  of  just  and  intelligent 
men,  that  the  suffrage  be  extended  to  women. 

But  we  are  told  that  husband  and  wife  will  disagree,  and 
thus  the  suffrage  will  destroy  the  family  and  ruin  society.  If 
a married  couple  will  quarrel  at  all,  they  will  find  the  occa- 
sion, and  it  were  fortunate  indeed  if  their  contention  might 
concern  important  affairs.  There  is  no  peace  in  the  family 
save  where  love  is,  and  the  same  spirit  which  enables  the 
husband  and  wife  to  enforce  the  toleration  act  between  them- 
selves in  religious  matters  will  keep  the  peace  between 
them  in  political  discussions.  At  all  events,  this  argument 
is  unworthy  of  notice  at  all,  unless  we  are  to  push  it  to  its 
logical  conclusion,  and,  for  the  sake  of  peace  in  the  family, 
to  prohibit  woman  absolutely  the  exercise  of  freedom  of 
thought  and  speech.  Men  live  with  their  countiymen,  and 
disagree  with  them  in  politics,  religion,  and  ten  thousand  of 
the  affairs  of  life,  as  often  the  trifling  as  the  important. 
What  harm,  then,  if  woman  be  allowed  her  thought  and  vote 
upon  the  tariff,  education,  temperance,  peace  and  war,  and 
whatsoever  else  the  suffrage  decides  ? 

But  we  are  told  that  no  government,  of  which  we  have 
authentic  histoiy,  ever  gave  to  woman  a share  in  the  sov- 
ereignty. 

This  is  not  true,  for  the  annals  of  monarchies  and  despot- 
isms have  been  rendered  illustrious  by  queens  of  surpassing 
brilliance  and  power.  But  even  if  it  lie  true  that  no  republic 
ever  enfranchised  woman  with  the  ballot,  even  so,  until  within 
one  hundred  years,  universal  or  even  general  suffrage  was 
unknown  among  men. 

Has  the  millennium  yet  dawned  ? Is  all  progress  at  an  end  ? 
If  that  which  is  should  therefore  remain,  why  abolish  the 
slavery  of  men? 

But  we  are  informed  that  woman  does  not  vote  when  she 


414 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


has  the  opportunity.  Wherever  she  has  the  unrestricted 
right  she  exercises  it.  The  records  of  Wyoming  and  Wash- 
ington and  Kansas  demonstrate  the  fact. 

And  in  these  parts  of  the  country,  too,  as  well  as  wherever 
else  she  has  exercised  the  suffrage,  she  has  elevated  man  to 
her  own  level,  and  has  made  the  voting  precinct  as  respect- 
able and  decorous  as  the  lecture-room  or  the  assemblies  of 
the  devout.  All  the  experience  there  is  refutes  the  appre- 
hension of  those  who  fear  that  woman  will  either  neglect  the 
discharge  of  her  great  duty,  when  allowed  its  fair  and  equal 
exercise,  or  that  the  rude  and  baser  sort  will  overwhelm  and 
banish  the  noble  and  refined. 

But,  to  my  mind,  it  seems  like  trifling  with  a great  subject 
to  dwell  upon  topics  like  this.  It  can  only  be  justified  by 
the  continual  iteration  of  the  objection  by  the  opponents  of 
woman  suffrage,  who,  in  the  lack  of  substantial  grounds 
whereupon  to  base  their  opposition  to  the  exercise  of  a great 
right  by  one-half  the  community,  declare  that  there  is  no 
time  in  which  woman  can  vote. 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  the  report  of  the  majority 
of  the  Senate  Committee  before  cited,  showing,  to  a certain 
extent,  the  degree  of  consequence  which  this  movement  has 
assumed,  its  extent  throughout  our  country,  and  something 
of  its  duration.  Since  this  report  was  compiled,  there  has 
been  action  in  several  States,  notably  in  Kansas,  where 
municipal  suffrage  has  been  a complete  success,  and  a great 
deal  of  popular  discussion,  and  a vast  amount  of  demonstra- 
tion, from  the  action  of  popular  assemblies. 

The  Committee  say  : 

“ This  movement  for  woman  suffrage  has  developed,  during  the 
last  half-century,  into  one  of  great  strength.  The  first  petition 
was  presented  to  the  Legislature  of  New  York  in  1835.  It  was 
repeated  in  1846,  and  since  that  time  the  petition  has  been  urged 
upon  nearly  every  Legislature  in  the  Northern  States.  Five 
States  have  voted  upon  the  question  of  amending  their  Constitu- 
tions by  striking  out  the  rvord  ‘male’  from  the  suffrage  clause  — 
Kansas  in  1867,  Michigan  in  1874,  Colorado  in  1877,  Nebraska  in 
1882,  and  Oregon  in  1884. 

“ The  ratio  of  the  popular  vote  in  each  case  was  about  one-third 
for  the  amendment  and  two-thirds  against  it.  Three  Territories 


THE  SENATE  RETORT  ON  SUFFRAGE. 


415 


have,  or  have  had,  full  suffrage  for  women.  In  two  — Wyoming 
since  1869  and  Washington  since  1883  — the  experiment  (!)  is  an 
unqualified  success.  In  Utah,  Miss  Anthony  keenly  and  justly 
observes  that  suffrage  is  as  much  of  a success  for  the  Mormon 
women  as  for  the  men. 

“ In  eleven  States,  school  suffrage  for  women  exists.  In  Kansas, 
from  her  admission  as  a State.  In  Kentucky  and  Michigan  fully 
as  long  a time.  School  suffrage  for  women  also  exists  in  Colorado, 
Minnesota,  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  Vermont,  New  York, 
Nebraska,  and  Oregon. 

“ In  all  these  States,  except  Minnesota,  school  suffrage  was 
extended  to  women  by  the  respective  Legislatures,  and  in  Min- 
nesota by  the  popular  vote  in  November,  1876.  Not  only  these 
eleven  States,  but  in  nearly  all  the  other  Northern  and  Western 
States,  women  are  elected  to  the  offices  of  county  and  city  super- 
intendents of  public  schools,  and  as  members  of  school-boards. 
In  Louisiana,  the  Constitution  of  1879  makes  women  eligible  to 
school  offices. 

“It  may  also  be  observed,  as  indicating  a rising  and  controlling 
public  sentiment  in  recognition  of  the  right  and  capacity  of 
woman  for  public  affairs,  that  she  is  eligible  to  such  offices  as  that 
of  county  clerk,  register  of  deeds,  and  the  like,  in  many  and  per- 
haps in  all  the  States.  Kansas  and  Iowa  elected  several  women 
to  these  positions  in  the  election  of  November,  1885,  while  Presi- 
dent Grant  alone  appointed  more  than  five  thousand  women  to  the 
office  of  postmaster;  and  although  many  Avomen  have  been 
appointed  in  the  Departments,  and  to  pension  agencies  and  like 
important  employments  and  trusts,  so  far  as  your  Committee  are 
aware,  no  charge  of  incompetency  or  of  malfeasance  in  office  has 
ever  yet  been  sustained  against  a woman. 

“It  may  be  further  stated,  in  this  connection,  that  nearly  every 
Northern  State  has  had  before  it,  from  time  to  time  since  1870,  a 
bill  for  the  submission  of  the  question  of  woman  suffrage  to  the 
popular  vote.  In  some  instances,  such  a resolution  has  been 
passed  at  one  session  and  failed  to  be  ratified  at  another  by  from 
one  to  three  votes;  thus,  Iowa  passed  it  in  1870,  killed  it  in  1872; 
passed  it  in  1874,  failed  to  do  so  in  1S76;  passed  it  in  1878,  and 
failed  in  1880;  passed  it  again  in  1882,  and  defeated  it  in  1884; 
four  times  over  and  over,  and  this  winter  these  heroic  and  indom- 
itable women  are  trying  it  in  Iowa  again. 

“ If  men  were  to  make  such  a struggle  for  their  rights,  it  would 
be  considered  a fine  thing,  and  there  would  be  books  and  even 
poetry  written  about  it. 

“In  New  York,  since  1880,  the  women  have  urged  this  great 


416 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


measure  before  the  Legislature  each  year.  There  it  takes  the 
form  of  a bill  to  prohibit  the  disfranchisement  of  women.  This 
bill  has  several  times  come  within  five  votes  of  passing  the 
Assembly. 

“In  many  States,  well  sustained  efforts  for  municipal  suffrage 
have  been  made,  and,  as  if  in  rebuke  to  the  conservatism,  or  worse, 
of  this  great  republic,  this  right  of  municipal  suffrage  is  already 
enjoyed  in  the  province  of  Ontario,  Canada,  and  throughout  the 
island  of  Great  Britain  by  unmarried  women  to  the  same  extent 
as  by  men,  there  being  the  same  projierty  qualification  required 
of  each. 

“The  movement  for  the  amendment  of  the  National  Constitu- 
tion began  by  petitioning  Congress  December,  1865,  and  since 
1869  there  have  been  consecutive  applications  to  every  Congress 
praying  for  the  submission  to  the  States  of  a proposition  similar  to 
the  joint  resolution  herewith  reported  to  the  Senate. 

“ The  petitions  have  come  from  all  parts  of  the  country  ; more 
especially  from  the  Northern  and  Western  States,  although  there 
is  an  extensive  and  increasing  desire  for  the  suffrage  existing 
among  the  women  in  the  Southern  States,  as  we  are  informed  by 
those  whose  interest  in  the  subject  makes  them  familiar  with  the 
real  state  of  feeling  in  that  part  of  our  country.  It  is  impossible 
to  know  just  what  proportion  of  the  people  — men  and  women  — 
have  expressed  their  desire  by  petition  to  the  National  Legis- 
lature during  the  last  twenty  years,  but  we  are  informed  by  Miss 
Anthony  that  in  the  year  1871  Senator  Sumner  collected  the 
petitions  from  the  files  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representa- 
tives, and  that  there  were  then  an  immense  number.  A far 
greater  number  have  been  presented  since  that  time,  and  the  same 
lady  is  our  authority  for  the  estimate  that  in  all  more  than  two 
hundred  thousand  petitions,  by  select  and  representative  men  and 
women,  have  been  poured  upon  Congress  in  behalf  of  this  prayer 
of  woman  to  be  free.  Who  is  so  interested  in  the  framing  of  the 
law  as  woman,  whose  only  defense  is  the  law?  There  never  was 
a stronger  exhibition  of  popular  demand  by  American  citizens  to 
be  heard  in  the  court  of  the  people  for  the  vindication  of  a funda- 
mental right.” 


Since  the  submission  of  the  report  the  attempt  has  been 
made  to  secure  action  in  several  of  the  State  Legislatures. 
One  which  came  very  near  being  successful  was  made  in  the 
State  of  Vermont.  The  suffrage  was  extended,  if  I am  not 
incorrectly  informed,  so  far  as  the  action  of  the  House  of 


WOMAN  SUFFKAGE  IN  KANSAS. 


417 


Representatives  of  that  State  could  give  it,  and  an  effort 
being  made  to  propose  some  restriction  and  condition  upon 
the  suffrage,  it  was  defeated,  when,  as  I am  told  by  the 
friends  of  the  movement,  if  it  could  have  reached  a 
vote  in  the  Vermont  Legislature  on  the  naked  proposition 
of  suffrage  to  women  as  suffrage  is  extended  to  men,  they 
felt  the  very  greatest  confidence  that  they  would  have  been 
able  to  secure  favorable  action  by  the  Legislature  of  that 
State. 

Miss  Anthony  informs  me  that  in  the  State  of  Kansas, 
where  she  spent  several  weeks  last  autumn  (1886)  in  the 
discussion  of  the  subject  before  vast  masses  of  people, 
the  largest  halls,  rinks,  and  places  for  the  accommoda- 
tion of  popular  assemblages  in  the  State  were  crowded 
to  overflowing  to  listen  to  her  address.  In  every  in- 
stance, she  took  a vote  of  those  vast  audiences  as  to  whether 
they  were  in  favor  of  woman  suffrage  or  against  it,  and  in 
no  single  instance  was  there  a solitary  vote  against  the  ex- 
tension of  the  right,  but  affirmative  and  universal  action 
of  these  great  assemblies  demanding  that  it  be  extended  to 
women. 

Since  that  memorable  campaign,  Kansas  has  extended 
municipal  suffrage  to  her  women.  She  did  not  create  the 
right — God  created  the  right  when  he  created  the  human 
soul.  But  Kansas  made  its  exercise  legal,  and  gave,  so  far, 
to  woman  liberty  protected  by  law.  Municipal  suffrage  is  a 
great  power,  and  full  enfranchisement  must  follow.  Muni- 
cipal suffrage  has  been  once  exercised.  It  has  not  destro}red 
society  nor  disgraced  the  voter.  It  will  not  at  once  pro- 
duce the  millennium,  but  on  every  great  question  we  shall 
hereafter  have  woman’s  help  in  Kansas. 

I have  just  received  the  speech  of  Hon.  Albert  Griffin, 
Chairman  of  the  National  Anti-Saloon  Committee,  delivered 
in  Topeka,  Ivan.,  Aug.  9,  1887,  in  which,  speaking  of  the 
dangers  to  society  by  the  transition  of  power  from  the 
country  to  city  populations,  which  arise,  principally,  from 
the  domination  of  the  saloon  among  the  latter,  and  of  woman 
suffrage  as  a means  of  counteracting  this  and  other  evils, 
and  of  the  operation  of  the  municipal  woman  suffrage  law  of 

that  State,  he  says  : — 

27 


418 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


“ Leaving  national  matters,  I desire  now  to  say  a few  words 
upon  another  subject.  But,  while  doing  so,  I speak  neither 
officially  nor  as  a partisan,  but  simply  as  a private  citizen  of 
Kansas.  Cities  of  the  United  States  are  growing  with  wonderful 
rapidity,  and  those  of  Kansas  are  not  exceptions  to  the  rule. 
Several  States  are  already  controlled  by  their  cities,  and  the  day 
is  not  far  distant  wThen  the  most  of  them  will  be.  There  would 
be  nothing  alarming  about  this,  but  for  the  further  fact  that  cities 
operate  like  magnets  on  the  weak  and  vicious,  which  elements, 
when  concentrated  in  the  masses,  inevitably  become  the  dupes 
and  tools  of  demagogues  and  corruptionists.  How  to  neutralize 
the  political  power  of  these  dangerous  masses  in  large  cities  is 
one  of  the  greatest  problems  of  the  day,  and  Kansas  will  do  wrell 
to  solve  it  before  she  finds  herself  in  the  meshes  of  a net  too 
strong  to  be  broken. 

“ Last  winter,  the  Legislature  of  Kansas  was  wise  enough  and 
courageous  enough  to  pass  a woman’s  municipal  suffrage  bill,  and 
the  first  election  held  under  it  proved  that,  in  xhe  very  places 
where  the  worst  results  had  been  predicted,  the  moral  tone  of 
both  parties  was  really  improved,  and  a better  class  of  officials 
were  chosen  than  would  have  been  under  the  old  system.  It  is 
not  surprising,  therefore,  that  the  success  of  the  experiment  — as 
it  was  called  by  many  — has  led  to  a rapidly  growing  desire  to 
try  it  on  a larger  scale.  Indeed,  the  woman’s  suffrage  question  is 
certain  soon  to  become  a seriously  disturbing  factor,  unless  it  is 
taken  out  of  partisan  politics  by  referring  it  to  the  people  for 
their  decision. 

“ The  spring  elections  in  this  State,  especially  the  one  in  Leav- 
enworth, prove  that  in  Kansas  a large  majority  of  the  votes  cast 
by  women  will  be  on  the  side  of  good  government,  against  human 
vultures,  and  for  the  protection  of  the  weak  and  innocent ; and  I 
believe  that  when  they  have  the  opportunity  the  voters  of  this 
State  will  expunge  from  its  constitution  all  reference  to  sex.  I 
am  confident  that  the  men  of  Kansas  are  now  willing  to  give 
their  mothers,  wives  and  daughters  equal  rights  with  themselves. 
‘ Give,’  did  I say  ? I take  back  that  word  and  substitute  ‘ restore  ’ 
to  them  the  rights  conferred  by  the  Creator,  and  embezzled  by 
our  male  ancestors,  and  still  wrongly  and  forcibly  retained  by  us.” 


All  will  remember  the  coarse  falsehoods  with  which  the 
anti-woman-suffrage  press  teemed  immediately  after  the  elec- 
tion itself,  in  regard  to  the  conduct  of  women  at  the  polls 
in  Kansas  at  an  election,  where,  out  of  a total  of  ninety 


woman’s  VOTE  IN  KANSAS. 


419 


thousand  votes  more  than  twenty-five  thousand  were  cast 
by  the  wives,  mothers  and  sisters  of  that  glorious  State. 
I have  just  received  the  following  from  one  of  the  leading 
journals  of  Topeka,  and  commend  it  to  the  attention  of  all 
who  deny  the  doctrines  of  this  chapter. 

“Topeka,  Kan.,  October  16. 

“Judge  Adams,  Secretary  of  the  State  Historical  Society,  has 
just  completed  a compilation  of  the  recent  municipal  vote,  which 
was  the  first  one  taken  under  the  new  law  giving  its  women  the 
right  to  vote.  The  compilation  shows  that  in  232  cities  of  the 
State  which  voted,  there  was  a total  of  90,194  votes,  of  which 
64.846  wrere  male  votes  and  25,348  were  female  votes.  Judge 
Adams’  report  is  accompanied  by  the  following  statement : 

‘“I  have  been  most  thoroughly  impressed  with  the  conviction 
that  the  people  of  Kansas,  at  last  spring’s  election,  completely 
solved  the  woman  suffrage  question.  It  is  no  longer  a question 
whether  women  want  to  vote.  They  do  want  to  vote.  This  is 
proven  by  the  fact  that  they  have  voted  at  the  first  opportunity 
given  them.  They  voted  with  an  intelligent,  zealous,  earnest 
interest  in  the  good  of  the  community  in  which  they  have  their 
homes.  If  the  issue  involved  in  the  election  of  any  town  was 
one  affecting  merely  the  local  material  interest  of  the  community, 
they  voted  with  good  judgment  and  for  the  common  welfare.  If 
the  question  was  as  to  better  school  management  they  voted  for 
the  best.  If  it  was  for  the  street,  sanitary  or  other  reforms,  they 
voted  prudently  for  what  seemed  to  be  the  good  of  all.  If  it 
was  for  a change  of  an  administration  notoriously  involved  in 
speculations  with  water-works  or  other  corporations,  they  voted 
to  deliver  the  city  from  such  corrupt  entanglement.  If  political 
parties,  controlled  by  saloon  influence,  put  up  candidates  with  the 
odor  of  whisky  on  their  garments,  the  women  rebuked  the  party 
managers  and  voted  for  candidates  who  would  better  promote  the 
moral  welfare  of  the  community.  In  every  instance  they  voted 
for  home  and  fireside,  for  the  freeing  of  the  community  from 
those  demoralizing  influences  and  temptations  from  which  every 
good  woman  would  deliver  those  of  her  own  household.  I have 
been  impressed  with  the  reports  received,  showing  the  orderly  and 
quiet  character  of  the  elections.  There  was  no  dissent  from  the 
testimony  on  this  point.’ 

“He  comments  upon  the  unexpectedly  large  vote  of  women,  and 
upon  the  healthy  influence  of  their  presence  in  banishing  riot  and 
disorder  from  the  polling-place.  He  remarks  upon  the  courtesies 


420 


TIIE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


everywhere  extended  the  lady  voters,  and  gives  statements  as  to 
how  the  men  of  all  parties  vied  in  escorting  the  ladies  to  the  polls 
in  carriages,  how  the  ladies  came  to  the  polls  accompanied  by 
their  husbands,  sometimes  singly,  sometimes  in  groups,  and 
quietly  deposited  their  votes,  and  returned  quietly  to  their  homes, 
and  how  sometimes  they  came  by  scores  and  fifties  from  points  of 
assemblage,  and  in  some  instances  from  churches,  where  they  had 
met  and  prayed  together  before  coming.” 

And  so  the  truth  gets  along  after  a while ; and  when  she 
comes  she  stays  — and  woman  suffrage  will  stay.  It  will 
abide  with  us  as  a part  of  free  government  forever. 

Popular  demonstrations  of  approval  are  developing  in  all 
parts  of  the  country,  perhaps  not  to  so  marked  an  extent  as 
these  which  I have  just  stated  ; but  it  is  a feeling  growing 
in  this  country  that  woman  should  have  this  right ; that  it 
belongs  to  her  as  an  individual  and  not  as  an  atom  in  the 
aggregate  of  her  sex.  As  a human  soul  she  has  a right  to 
it,  and  is  not  to  be  deprived  of  it  until  such  time  as  all  shall 
choose  to  exercise  it.  How  can  we  deny  the  demand  of 
millions  who  believe  in  suffrage  for  women,  and  who  can 
not  be  forever  silenced,  for  they  give  voice  to  the  innate  cry 
of  the  human  heart  that  justice  be  done  not  alone  to  man, 
but  to  that  half  of  this  nation  which  now  is  free  only  by  the 
grace  of  the  other?  Let  us  indorse,  if  we  do  not  initiate, 
a movement  which,  in  the  development  of  our  race,  shall 
guarantee  liberty  to  all,  without  distinction  of  sex,  even  as 
our  glorious  Constitution  already  grants  the  suffrage  to  every 
citizen,  without  distinction  of  color  or  race. 


CHAPTER  XX. 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 

The  Temperance  Movement  an  Effort  of  Humanity  to  Unchain  Itself  — 
The  Spirit  of  Liberty  as  Conceived  by  the  Fathers  of  the  Republic  — 
Four  Valuable  Volumes  — Dr.  Benjamin  Rush’s  Pamphlet  the  Start- 
ing Point  of  the  Present  Movement — Hon.  Samuel  Dexter’s  Picture 
of  the  Situation  in  1814  — The  Evil  at  Later  Dates  — Rev.  Lyman 
Beecher’s  Descrijution  of  the  “Creature  Comforts”  at  a Connecticut 
Ordination  in  1810  — Churches  and  Religious  Associations  Awake  — 
American  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Temperance  Organized  1826 
— Massachusetts  Medical  Society  Discourages  the  Use  of  Liquors  1S27 
— Rush,  Muzzey,  Davis  — Jonathan  Kittredge’s  Pamphlet  — The 
Famous  Massachusetts  Fifteen-Gallon  Law  — The  Washingtonians  in 
1840  — The  Maine  Law  — Real  Dow  the  Columbus  of  Prohibition  — 
For  Thirty-Five  Years  Temperance  has  Moved  on  Abstinence  and 
Prohibition. 

HE  temperance  movement  is  an  effort  of  humanity  to 


I unchain  itself.  It  is  a rebellion  conducted  by  the  peo- 
ple according  to  law,  against  the  further  domination  of  per- 
sonal habits  and  social  customs  which  have  enslaved  and 
destroyed  the  world  almost  from  the  beginning.  Emancipa- 
tion of  the  individual  from  ignorance,  passion  and  appetite 
is  the  first  and  chief  element  of  all  liberty,  and  civil  rights 
are  of  no  benefit  to  him  whose  higher  nature  is  in  subjec- 
tion to  the  lower  and  grosser  impulses,  "which  were  given  to 
serve  and  not  to  control. 

When  the  human  race  began  its  new  departure  in  Inde- 
pendence Hall,  on  the  fourth  day  of  July,  1776,  the  great 
men  who  led  it  comprehended  that  true  liberty  is  a conse- 
quence of  the  inherent  fitness  of  men  for  its  possession  ; that 
freedom  comes  from  within,  and  is  of  the  mind.  They  con- 
ceived of  liberty  as  a manifestation  in  and  through  man  of 
something  higher  and  better  than  himself,  and  of  which  his 
emancipated  and  more  elevated  state  is  the  evolution.  They 
knew  that  all  consciousness,  all  pleasure  and  all  pain,  apper- 
tain to  the  individual ; that  the  whole  is  but  an  aggregation 


421 


422 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


of  atoms  or  parts ; and,  though  the  sunshine  may  come 
from  without,  yet  all  life  and  growth  are  within  the  solitary 
recesses  and  by  the  processes  of  the  individual  soul.  They 
sought  to  achieve  the  emancipation  of  mankind  by  the 
improvement  and  elevation  of  the  units  of  the  race.  The 
methods  of  tyranny,  in  all  its  forms,  are  just  the  contrary. 
The  one  or  the  few  repress,  belittle  and  subject  the  many. 
Their  real  agencies  are  ignorance,  passion,  appetite;  and 
these,  if  unrestrained,  create  the  means  of  self-perpetuation 
in  the  form  of  superstitions,  customs  and  laws.  As  soon 
as  the  exigencies  of  the  Revolutionary  War  had  passed  away, 
the  intelligence  of  the  superior  few  at  once  grasped  the 
thought  that,  if  the  whole  people  were  to  be  made  and 
kept  competent  for  the  enjoyment  and  preservation  of  free 
institutions,  the  great  evils  which  resulted  from  the  almost 
universal  slavery  of  intoxication  must  be  radically  restrained. 

There  had  been  Englishmen,  like  Lord  Chesterfield,  and 
many  Americans  also,  who  had  comprehended  the  traffic  in 
strong  drink,  and  denounced  it  with  a scathing  severity 
which  has  never  been  surpassed,  even  in  our  own  time ; but 
there  had  been  no  " Temperance  Movement,”  such  as  that 
which,  during  the  last  century,  has  been  rooting  itself  in  the 
intelligence  and  conscience  of  the  common  people,  and  grow- 
ing broad  and  high,  like  a new  and  mighty  tree,  with  heal- 
ing leaves  and  fragrant  shade  for  all  the  nations  of  the  earth. 
Such  a movement  is  only  possible  as  a part  of  the  general 
progress  of  mankind,  and  must  be  the  work  of  the  masses  of 
men.  The  temperance  movement  of  to-day  is  even  more 
logically  the  result  of  the  working  of  free  principles  and 
institutions  than  was  the  agitation  which  destroyed  slavery ; 
and  it  will  be  found  to  be  an  " irrepressible  conflict,”  until 
the  people  have  liberated  themselves  from  this  most  ancient, 
debasing  and  destructive  form  of  self-imposed  oppression. 
Wise  kings  and  great  religions  have  prohibited  the  use  of 
intoxicants  in  ages  past,  and  have  succeeded  in  partially 
restraining  the  evil ; but  this  temperance  movement  of  mod- 
ern times  is  a part  of  the  American  Revolution  at  home,  and 
an  overflow  of  that  Revolution  abroad : it  is  the  sovereignty 
of  intelligence  and  enlightened  self-interest,  sanctioned  by 
the  precepts  of  morality  and  religion,  exerted  by  the  com- 


rush’s  famous  essay,  1785. 


423 


mon  people  for  their  own  more  perfect  liberation.  Such  a 
movement  is  completely  possible  only  in  a free  country ; 
and,  once  set  on  foot  in  such  a country,  will  never  stay  its 
progress  until  the  evil  is  exterminated,  or  the  nobler  im- 
pulses of  the  people  have  disappeared,  and  they  have 
returned  to  that  last  state  of  debasement  and  thraldom 
which  is  worse  than  the  first. 

It  will  be  impossible  to  present  more  than  the  briefest 
outline  of  the  history  of  the  present  temperance  movement, 
which  is,  I firmly  believe,  to  wax  stronger  and  stronger  unto 
the  perfect  day.  For  its  full  exposition,  the  reader  is 
referred  to  such  works  as  " The  Liquor  Problem  of  all 
Ages,”  by  Dr.  Dorchester ; " Alcohol  in  History,”  by  Rev. 
Dr.  Richard  Eddy,  the  " Centennial  Temperance  Volume,” 
with  the  history  it  contains  written  by  Dr.  Dunn,  and  " One 
Hundred  Years  of  Temperance.” 

' These  four  volumes  are  of  sweat  value,  and  I would  sive 
up  my  whole  book  to  the  commendation  of  them  if  their 
universal  perusal  could  thus  be  secui’ed. 

• The  real  commencement  of  the  temperance  movement  now 
in  progress,  is  generally  identified  with  the  publication,  by 
Dr.  Benjamin  Rush,  of  his  pamphlet,  entitled  "The  Effects 
of  Ardent  Spirits  on  the  Human  Mind  and  Body”  — in  the 
year  1785.  It  was  a part  of  the  eternal  fitness  of  things 
that  this  distinguished  service  to  mankind  should  be  ren- 
dered by  the  man  who  was  chairman  of  the  committee  on 
Independence  in  the  Continental  Congress  of  1776. 

This  essay  was  a new  indictment  of  the  worst  form  of 
oppression  to  mankind,  and  produced  in  its  own  field  an 
influence  almost  like  " Common  Sense  ” upon  the  Revolu- 
tion. During  the  next  forty  years  it  was  the  leading 
temperance  document,  and,  although  confined  in  its  denun- 
ciations to  distilled  spirits,  is  not  surpassed  in  earn- 
estness and  power  by  anything  which  has  been  written 
since.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the  demonstration  of 
the  poisonous  nature  of  all  alcoholic  drinks,  which  modern 
science  has  given  to  us,  was  not  available  to  Dr.  Rush,  and 
that  the  specially  destructive  effects  of  ardent  or  distilled 
spirits,  in  his  time,  almost  compelled  him  to  attack  them 
alone,  without  too  violently  assailing  the  drinking  customs 


424 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


of  the  people.  Nor  is  it  strange  that,  in  the  almost  impene- 
trable thick  darkness  of  that  period,  the  vision  of  the  wisest 
should  have  been  obscured. 

If  Dr.  Rush  were  living  now,  no  one  can  doubt  that  he 
Avould  hold  to  the  same  advanced  opinions  which  we  have 
already  seen  expounded  by  Dr.  Davis  of  Chicago,  his  worthy 
successor,  not  alone  in  the  temperance  reform,  but  in  the 
leadership  of  the  medical  profession. 

It  is  very  difficult  to  comprehend  the  surprise  with  which 
society  must  have  listened  to  the  strange  voice  of  this  one 
prophet  crying  in  the  wilderness ; but  his  voice  was  heard, 
although  not  seeming  immediately  to  accomplish  much.  It 
was  like  the  song  of  the  angels  in  the  air.  It  was  a jrreat 
annunciation,  and  Ave  can  hear  it  yet.  Benjamin  Franklin, 
Gen.  Putnam,  Dr.  Belknap,  and  others,  supported  Dr. 
Rush  in  his  Avork,  but,  after  all,  what  Avere  they  among  so 
many  ! The  truth,  hoAvever,  had  been  spoken,  or  at  least 
that  half  of  it  which  condemned  ardent  spirits  had  been 
spoken,  and  it  could  not  return  void  to  Him  Avho  sent  it. 
The  rest  must  folloAv.  The  revolution  was  begun  and  could 
not  go  backward,  although,  until  about  the  year  1825,  the 
drinking  curse  continued  to  be  most  grieA'ous  upon  the 
American  people. 

In  1792  there  Avere  2579  distilleries  in  the  United  States. 
In  1810  there  Avere  14,191.  The  population  had  not  doubled 
during  the  time  in  Avhieh  the  number  of  distilleries  had  in- 
creased  nearly  sixfold. 

The  consumption  per  capita  in  1792  Avas  21  gallons,  and 
in  1810  it  Avas  44-  gallons  — in  both  cases  including  children 
and  slaves,  Avho  generally  could  have  consumed  but  little. 

Hon.  Samuel  Dexter  Avas  president  of  the  Massachusetts 
Society  for  the  Suppression  of  Intemperance,  in  1814.  He 
had  been  Secretary  of  War  and  of  the  Treasury.  He  says 
in  a circular  issued  by  him  as  president  of  the  society  in 
1814  : 

"The  solemn  fact  is,  more  than  four  times  as  much  spirit 
is  consumed  on  the  farm  now  as  Avas  used  upon  the  same 
farm,  by  the  same  conductors  of  it,  twenty  years  ago.  The 
pocket-flask  has  groAvn  into  a case-bottle,  and  the  keg  into  a 
barrel.  This  fact  is  not  affirmed  upon  light  evidence.  The 


r" " ^ 


Eugene  H.  Clapp , 

Head  of  the  Sons  of  Temperance  of  the  United  States. 


DAKIC  DAYS  OF  INTEMPERANCE. 


425 


consequence  is  found  to  be  that  the  bloated  countenance  and 
the  tottering  frame  are  become  a frequent  spectacle  among* 
the  yeomen  of  the  country,  once  regarded,  even  to  a proverb, 
as  the  healthiest,  the  hardiest  and  the  happiest  class  of  the 
community.” 

In  1823,  the  consumption  of  ardent  (distilled)  spirits  had 
increased  to  7±  gallons  per  capita  yearly,  and  the  whole 
nation  seemed  to  be  dying  with  alcoholic  poisoning. 

The  Boston  Recorder  says,  in  1823  : "It  is  an  evil  of  wide 
extent  and  it  still  spreads.  No  check  is  given  or  scarcely 
attempted.  Philanthropists,  statesmen  and  Christians  wit- 
ness and  deplore  it.  As  a destroying  angel,  it  lifts  its 
pallid  front  and  ghastly  look  in  our  cities,  towns  and  scat- 
tered settlements.  It  reels  and  wears  rags  in  evei*y  street, 
and  mouths  the  heavens  with  drunken  blasphemies  under 
every  hedge.  Nor  does  it  lay  its  polluted  hand  on  the  rabble 
merely  ; it  may  be  seen  in  milder  and  more  fashionable  forms, 
pacing  splendid  carpets,  waving  a lily  hand  over  well  fur- 
nished side-boards,  and  here  and  there  flushing  the  cheek 
and  deadening  the  eyes  of  female  delicacy.  Fifty  millions 
lost  is  but  a trifle  compared  with  the  moral  influence  of  in- 
temperance. This  immense  sum  has  poured  down  the 
throats  of  ten  millions  of  people,  seventy-five  millions  of 
gallons  of  liquid  fire  mingling  and  flowing  with  their  life- 
blood.” 

Rev.  Lyman  Beecher  says  of  an  ordination  in  Plymouth, 
Ct. , soon  after  his  settlement  in  Litchfield,  which  was  in  1810  : 

"At  this  ordination  the  preparation  for  our  creature-com- 
forts,   besides  food,  was  a broad  side-board  covered 

with  decanters  and  bottles  and  sugar  and  pitchers  of  water. 
There  we  found  all  the  kinds  of  liquors  then  in  vogue.  The 
drinking  was  apparently  universal.  This  preparation  was 
made  by  the  society  as  a matter  of  course.  When  the  con- 
sociation arrived  they  always  took  something  to  drink  round, 
also  before  public  services  and  always  on  their  return.  As 
they  could  not  all  drink  at  once,  they  wei*e  obliged  to  stand 

and  wait  as  people  do  when  they  go  to  mill When 

they  had  all  done  drinking  and  taken  pipes  and  tobacco,  in 
less  than  fifteen  minutes  there  was  such  a smoke  you  could 
not  see.  The  noise  I can  not  describe  ; it  was  the  maximum 


426 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


of  hilarity.  They  told  their  stories  and  were  at  the  height 
of  jocose  talk ” 

He  describes  another  similar  ordination.  Think  of  such  a 
body  of  men  dealing  damnation  round  the  land  in  a double 
sense.  One  must  admire  their  plucky  disregard  of  self- 
interest,  when  they  could  deliberately  adhere  to  the  stern 
theology  of  their  day,  notwithstanding  their  own  dubious 
prospects  hereafter  under  its  vigorous  doctrines. 

Dr.  Beecher  proceeds  : 

" These  two  meetings  'were  near  together,  and  in  both  my 
alarm  and  shame  and  indignation  were  intense.  ’ Tuuas  that 
that  wolce  me  up  for  the  war.  And,  silently,  I took  an  oath 
before  God  that  I would  never  attend  another  ordination  of 
that  kind.  I was  full.  My  heart  kindles  at  the  thought 
of  it  now.”  So  it  is.  Flowers  as  well  as  nettles  spring 
from  the  dung-hill,  and  the  scandalous  conduct  of  these 
clergymen,  who  in  our  time  would  have  been  taken  for  a 
party  of  loafers  in  a saloon,  stirred  up  a revolt  in  their  own 
hearts,  and  we  have  plucked  the  flower  of  safety  from  the 
nettle  of  danger.  To-day  the  clergy  are  the  bulwark  of  the 
temperance  reform. 

Churches  and  religious  associations  awoke.  Drunken  men 
were  in  no  condition  to  tinker  creeds  and  lay  on  holy  hands. 
The  whole  business  was  rank  blasphemy.  The  conscience 
and  intellect  of  the  whole  nation  were  excited,  and  concen- 
trated upon  the  situation.  There  was  need  of  a change,  and 
the  change  came. 

On  the  thirteenth  day  of  February,  1826,  "The  American 
Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Temperance”  was  organized. 
It  was  founded  upon  the  doctrine  of  total  abstinence, 
although  it  did  not  rigidly  enforce  it.  Its  formation  grew 
out  of  the  admitted  failure  of  the  doctrine  of  the  moderate 
use  and  the  substitution  of  the  fermented  for  distilled  drinks, 
which  had  been  the  theory  of  Dr.  Push,  and,  generally,  the 
highest  point  to  which  the  tide  of  reformation  had  risen  in 
the  minds  of  those  who  followed  him.  But  Dr.  Edwards 
said  of  the  new  society,  "We  want  for  members  holy  men, 
who  do  not  use  intoxicating  liquors  unless  prescribed  by  a 
physician  as  a medicine.”  They  advocated  the  doctrine  of 
total  abstinence,  but,  says  Dr.  Dorchester,  " considerations 


THE  LIGHT  INCREASING. 


427 


of  providence  held  them  back  from  pledging  the  people.” 
Upon  tliis  basis  the  controversy  continued  for  years.  The 
movement  was  a mental  process  still,  an  effort  to  educate, 
enlighten  and  convince,  so  that  the  individual  will,  guided  by 
reason,  might  be  led  to  assert  supremacy  over  conduct,  and 
thus  achieve  personal  independence  of  the  tju’ant,  without 
assistance  from  the  law. 

In  the  same  year  the  National  Philanthropist  was 
started  in  Boston.  Its  motto  Avas,  " Temperate  drinking  is 
the  down-hill  road  to  intemperance.”  Thus  the  newspaper 
entered  the  ranks  of  the  reformers.  Educational  agencies 
were  aroused,  and  temperance  societies  formed  among  the 
students  and  the  young  everywhere. 

In  1827,  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Societ}r  resolved  " to 
discourage  the  use  of  ardent  spirits,  and  to  discontinue  the 
employment  of  spirituous  preparations  whenever  they  could 
find  substitutes.”  They  also  declared  against  the  too  careless 
and  excessive  use  of  wine  even,  and  thus  entered  in  a certain 
feeble,  half-conscious  way  upon  the  war  against  fermented 
drinks. 

In  1827,  Prof.  Reuben  D.  Muzzey  of  Dartmouth  Medical 
College  delivered  his  famous  address  before  the  New  Hamp- 
shire Medical  Society,  of  which  he  was  president.  No 
man  is  surer  of  immortality  than  Dr.  Muzzey.  Hear 
him  ! For  sixty  years  that  voice  has  been  ringing  through- 
out the  world! — "Let  all  virtuous  men  unite  to  expel  the 
common  enemy.  He  ought  not  to  be  allowed  a place 
in  Christian  society.  He  is  a foreigner,  a Mohamme- 
dan ; he  was  born  in  the  land  of  robbers,  and  he  has 
established  the  genuineness  of  his  origin  by  the  millions  he 
has  deprived  of  property,  of  morals  and  of  life.  He  has 
come  to  us  in  the  robe  of  friendship,  has  assured  us  of  his 
best  regards,  has  proffered  his  aid  and  solace  in  sickness, 
pain  and  poverty.  Such  a friend,  who  could  reject?  He 
has  been  received  into  general  favor,  and  admitted  to  Chris- 
tian confidence  and  companionship  ; and  what  reward  has  he 
taken  for  his  kind  offices?  He  lias  stolen  away  character, 
health,  property,  the  rich  blessings  and  endowments  of 
society  and  domestic  intercourse,  the  moral  sense,  life  and 
the  hope  of  heaven. 


428 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


Gird  up,  then,  to  the  combat.  Always  meet  him  as  an 
enemy ; never  again  admit  him  to  your  bosoms ; give  him  no 
quarter;  expel  him  from  your  houses;  drive  him  from  the 
land.  Always  treat  him  as  a murderer ; he  has  slain  your 
brothers,  he  lurks  for  the  life-blood  of  your  children;  he 
whets  his  sabre  for  you.” 

And  now  abide  these  three  — Rush,  Muzzey  and  Davis. 
The  medical  profession  can  remove  intemperance,  and  is 
responsible  if  it  be  not  done. 

I may  be  pardoned  for  quoting  again  from  one  of  the 
giants  of  those  days,  and  for  the  pride  with  which  I repro- 
duce the  following  extracts  from  the  work  of  an  honored 
citizen  of  my  native  and  beloved  State. 

The  Hon.  Jonathan  Kittredge  of  Canaan,  New  Hamp- 
shire, was  one  of  the  ablest  lawyers  and  jurists  of  his  gen- 
eration. On  the  eighth  day  of  January,  1827,  he  delivered  an 
"Address  on  the  Effects  of  Ardent  Spirits,”  before  a public 
meeting,  in  the  town  of  Lyme,  New  Hampshire,  which  was 
published  by  the  American  Tract  Society,  No.  221  of  its 
series,  and  circulated  by  scores  if  not  hundreds  of  thousands 
among  the  people  for  many  years.  Temperance  literature 
has  produced  no  more  powerful  document  than  " Kittredge's 
Address,”  and,  while  I read  it,  the  image  of  the  mighty  old 
man  arises  before  me,  as  I saw  his  form  and  listened  to  his 
impressive  eloquence  at  the  bar,  in  the  days  of  my  youth. 
Eminent  lawyer  and  able  judge  that  he  was,  it  is  this  little 
tract,  by  which  he  conferred  immeasurable  blessings  upon  his 
race,  which  will  preserve  his  name  in  loving  memory  to  the 
end  of  time.  I quote  briefly  from  the  address  to  show  some- 
thing of  the  ardor  and  power  with  which  it  is  written,  but, 
more  particularly,  to  indicate  how  the  temperance  move- 
ment had  at  last  evolved  the  great  doctrine  and  duty  of  total 
abstinence.  First,  he  pictures  the  effect  of  the  moderate 
use  of  intoxicating  drink.  He  says  : 

“ We  can  all  call  to  mind  the  case  of  some  individual  whom  we 
have  known  for  years,  perhaps  from  his  infancy,  who  is  now  a 
poor  miserable  drunkard.  In  early  life  his  hopes  and  prospects 
were  as  fair  as  ours.  His  family  was  respectable,  and  he  received 
all  those  advantages  which  are  necessary,  and  which  were  calcu- 


kittredge’s  address,  1827. 


429 


lated  to  make  him  a useful  and  respectable  member  of  society. 
Perhaps  he  was  our  school-fellow,  and  our  boyhood  may  have 
been  passed  in  his  company.  We  witnessed  the  first  budding  of 
his  mental  powers,  and  know  that  he  possessed  an  active,  enter- 
prising mind.  He  grew  up  into  life  with  every  prospect  of  use- 
fulness. He  entered  into  business,  and  for  a while  did  well.  His 
parents  looked  to  him  for  support  in  old  age,  and  he  avus  capable 
of  affording  it.  He  accumulated  property,  and  in  a feAv  years, 
Avith  ordinary  prudence  and  industry,  Avould  have  been  independ- 
ent. He  married  and  became  the  head  of  a family,  and  the 
father  of  children,  and  all  Avas  prosperous  and  happy  around  him. 
Had  he  continued  as  he  began,  he  Avould  noAV  have  been  a com- 
fort to  his  friends,  and  an  honor  to  the  community.  But  the  scene 
quickly  changed.  He  greAV  fond  of  ardent  spirits.  He  Avas  seen 
at  the  store  and  the  tavern.  By  degrees  he  became  intemperate. 
He  neglected  his  business,  and  his  affairs  Avent  to  gradual  decay. 
He  is  noAV  a drunkard  ; his  property  is  wasted ; his  parents  have 
died  of  broken  hearts;  his  Avife  is  pale  and  emaciated,  his  children 
ragged,  squalid  and  ignorant.  He  is  the  tenant  of  some  little 
cabin  that  poverty  has  erected  to  house  him  from  the  storm  and 
tempest.  He  is  useless  and  Avorse  than  useless;  he  is  a pest  to  all 
around  him.  All  the  feelings  of  his  nature  are  blunted ; he  has 
lost  all  shame ; he  procures  his  accustomed  supply  of  the  poison 
that  consumes  him ; he  staggers  through  mud  and  through  filth 
to  his  hut ; he  meets  a Aveeping  Avife  and  starving  children ; he 
abuses  them,  he  tumbles  into  his  straAV,  he  rolls  and  foams  like  a 
mad  brute,  till  he  is  able  to  go  again.  He  calls  for  more  rum,  he 
repeats  the  scene  from  time  to  time,  from  day  to  day,  till  soon  his 
nature  faints,  and  he  becomes  sober  in  death. 

“Let  us  reflect  that  this  guilty,  Avretched  creature  had  an 
immortal  mind  — he  Avas  like  us,  of  the  same  flesh  and  blood  — 
he  Avas  our  brother,  destined  to  the  same  eternity,  created  by  and 
accountable  to  the  same  God,  and  will  at  last  stand  at  the  same 
judgment-bar;  and  Avho,  amid  such  reflections,  will  not  Aveep  at 
his  fate,  Avhose  eye  can  remain  dry,  and  Avhose  heart  unmoved? 

“ This  is  no  picture  of  the  imagination.  It  is  a common  and 
sober  reality.  It  is  what  we  see  almost  every  day  of  our  lives; 
and  Ave  live  amid  such  scenes  and  events,  with  the  addition  or 
subtraction  of  a feAv  circumstances ; it  is  the  case  of  every  one 
of  the  common  drunkards  around  us.  They  haAre  not  completed 
the  drama — they  are  alive  — but  they  are  going  to  death  Avith 
rapid  strides,  as  their  predecessors  have  already  gone.  Another 
company  of  immortal  minds  is  coming  on  to  fill  their  places,  as 
they  have  filled  others’.  The  number  is  kept  good  and  increasing.” 


430 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


This  was  spoken  more  than  sixty  years  ago.  Even  then 
it  was  the  " old,  old,  story  ” of  moderate  indulgence,  gradual 
degradation,  and  final  despair.  To-day  it  is  the  same  story, 
a little  older,  true  as  ever,  and  far  wider  in  its  application. 

After  a powerful  discussion  of  the  general  subject  of  intem- 
perance, Mr.  Kittredge  voices  the  concurring  sentiment  of 
the  time  as  follows  : 

“But  it  is  this  moderate  use  of  ardent  spirits  that  produces  all 
the  excess.  It  is  this  which  paves  the  way  to  downright  and 
brutal  intoxication.  Abolish  the  ordinary  and  temperate  use  of 
ardent  spirits,  and  there  would  not  be  a drunkard  in  the 
country. 

“But  we  are  apt  to  think  that  the  wretches  whom  we  see  and 
have  described  were  always  so  ; that  they  were  out  of  miserable 
and  degraded  families ; and  they  are  walking  in  the  road  in  which 
they  were  born.  But  this  is  not  so.  Among  the  number  may  be 
found  a large  proportion  who  were  as  lovely  in  their  infancy,  as 
promising  in  their  youth,  and  as  useful  in  early  life,  as  your  own 
children,  and  have  become  drunkards  — I repeat  it,  and  let  it 
never  be  forgotten  — have  become  drunkards  by  the  temperate, 
moderate  and  habitual  use  of  ardent  spirits,  just  as  you  use  them 
now.  Were  it  not  for  this  use  of  ardent  spirits,  we  should  not 
now  hear  of  drunken  senators  and  drunken  magistrates,  of 
drunken  lawyers  and  drunken  doctors;  churches  would  not  now 
be  mourning  over  drunken  ministers  and  drunken  members;  par- 
ents would  not  now  be  weeping  over  drunken  children,  wives 
over  drunken  husbands,  husbands  over  drunken  wives,  and  angels 
over  a drunken  world. 

“He  who  advises  men  not  to  drink  to  excess  may  lop  off  the 
branches;  he  who  advises  them  to  drink  only  on  certain  occa- 
sions may  fell  the  trunk;  but  he  who  tells  them  not  to  drink  at 
all  strikes  and  digs  deep  for  the  roots  of  the  hideous  vice  of  intem- 
perance; and  this  is  the  only  course  to  pursue. 

“ Let  those  who  can  not  be  reclaimed  go  to  ruin,  and 

the  quicker  the  better  if  you  regard  only  the  public  good  ; but 
save  the  rest  of  our  population  ; save  yourselves;  save  your  chil- 
dren ! Raise  not  up  an  army  of  drunkards  to  supply  their  places  ! 
Purify  your  houses!  They  contain  the  plague  of  death  — the 
poison  that  in  a few  years  will  render  some  of  your  little  ones 
what  the  miserable  wretches  that  you  see  staggering  the  streets 
are  now.  And  who,  I ask,  would  not  do  it?  What  father,  who 
knew  that  one  of  his  sons  that  he  loves  was  in  a few  years  to  be 


Francis  Murphy , 

Temperance  Apostle.  “ With  Malice  toward  none  and  Charity 

for  all." 


ENLIGHTENMENT  AND  DEFORM. 


431 


what  hundreds  you  can  name  are  now,  would  hesitate,  that  he 
might  save  him,  to  banish  intoxicating  drinks  from  his  premises 
forever ? 

“ But  if  all  will  do  it  he  is  saved  ; and  he  who  contributes  but 
a mite  to  this  work  of  God  deserves  the  everlasting  gratitude  of 
the  republic.  If  the  names  of  a Brain erd,  of  a Schwartz,  of  a 
Buchanan,  have  been  rendered  immortal  by  their  efforts  to  con- 
vert the  heathen  to  Christianity,  the  names  of  those  men  who 
shall  succeed  in  converting  Christians  to  temperance  and  sobriety 
should  be  written  in  letters  of  ever-during  gold,  and  appended  by 
angels  in  the  temple  of  the  living  God.  The  sum  of  their  benev- 
olence would  be  exceeded  only  by  His  who  came  down  from 
heaven  for  man’s  redemption.  Then,  banish  it;  this  is  the  only 
way  to  save  your  children. 

“ As  long  as  you  keep  ardent  spirits  in  your  houses,  as  long  as 
you  drink  it  yourselves,  as  long  as  it  is  polite  and  genteel  to  sip 
the  intoxicating  bowl,  so  long  society  will  remain  just  what 
it  is  now,  and  so  long  drunkards  will  spring  from  your  loins,  and 
so  long  drunkards  will  wear  your  names  to  future  generations. 
And  there  is  no  way  given  under  heaven  whereby  man  can  be 
saved  from  the  vice  of  intemperance,  but  that  of  total  abstinence .” 

Truer  now  than  then,  for  the  drinks  of  to-day  are  deadlier 
than  ever  before. 

Churches  and  denominational  associations,  medical  bodies, 
military  organizations,  public  meetings,  almost  every  form 
of  effort  united  to  endorse  these  and  similar  expressions  of 
sentiment  in  all  parts  of  the  country ; and  a mighty  move- 
ment, based  on  "moral  suasion,”  filled  the  land  for  the 
removal  of  the  evils  of  intoxication  from  society,  which  has 
never  wholly  ceased,  although  it  was  seriously  interrupted  by 
the  civil  war,  and  is  now  not  only  more  active  than  ever  at 
home,  but  is  agitating  and  educating  the  popular  mind 
throughout  the  civilized  world.  This  work  — the  enlighten- 
ment of  the  mind,  and  the  awakening  of  the  moral  sense 
which  results  from  it,  so  that  both  the  utility  and  the  dut}r  of 
personal  abstinence  from  whatever  poisons  the  soul  as  well 
as  the  body  — is  now  clearly  seen  and  felt  to  be  the  only 
substantial  foundation  of  permanent  temperance  reform. 

The  public  sentiment  which  resulted  from  this  discussion 
naturally  sought  to  apply  the  doctrine  of  total  abstinence  to 
society  through  the  forms  of  law.  If  the  use  of  alcohol  as 


432 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


a beverage  is  an  injury  and  a sin  by  the  individual,  bow  can 
it  lie  right  for  society  to  permit  an  indulgence  which  con- 
centrates upon  the  whole,  with  the  accumulating  intensity  of 
geometrical  ratio,  all  the  evils  which  degrade  and  ruin  the 
direct  consumer ! 

Thus  was  evolved  the  idea  of  legal  suasion,  which  may 
be  said  to  have  the  same  relation  to  society,  using  the  term 
in  the  sense  of  the  State,  which  moral  conviction  or  suasion 
has  to  the  individual.  Each  has  in  view  the  establishment  of 
a law,  by  the  one  for  the  control  of  personal  conduct,  and 
by  the  other  the  control  of  the  whole  by  the  combined 
power  of  all  its  parts.  And  as  in  its  origin  and  early  stages 
the  movement  sought  to  reform  by  substituting  the  restricted 
personal  use,  and  only  after  experience  had  demonstrated 
the  futility  and  folly  of  the  elfort  asserted  the  broad,  radi- 
ical  and  potent  doctrine  of  total  abstinence  as  a civil,  moral 
and  religious  duty,  so  also,  by  reason  of  what  would  seem  to 
be  inevitable  from  the  structure  of  human  nature,  the  first 
effort  in  the  movement  for  public  law  sought  only  to  secure 
moderate  restriction  by  societj"  — to  impose  conditions  and 
hindrances,  but  not  to  forbid.  The  serpent  was  licensed  to 
bite,  but  the  people  required  it  to  be  done  with  propriety, 
and  demanded  a fair  division  of  the  profits  of  the  traffic  in 
their  own  bodies  and  souls.  But  the  poison  continued  to 
kill,  whether  administered  by  licensed  regulars  or  by  irre- 
sponsible quacks ; and  finally,  almost  in  the  last  throes  of 
social  dissolution,  the  holy  doctrine  of  the  total  prohibition 
by  public  law  of  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  as  a beverage 
was  born  into  the  legislation  of  the  world. 

The  people  began  to  move  for  the  repeal  of  license  laws, 
and  for  legislation  having  for  its  object  the  outlawry  of  the 
liquor  traffic,  and  which  could  only  result  in  its  ultimate 
classification  among  crimes. 

True,  they  did  not  grasp  the  idea  of  destroying  the 
evil  in  the  germ  or  point  of  manufacture,  and  only  sought 
to  mop  up  the  ocean,  all  along  its  infinite  shores  of  woe, 
by  preventing  and  punishing  the  retail  sale ; but  the 
principle  of  prohibition  was  involved,  and  the  unfailing 
logic  of  the  public  mind  will  be  sure  to  utilize  it,  by  the 
adoption  and  consecration  of  every  form  of  its  application 


LEGAL  SUASION. 


433 


in.  future  legislation,  until  the  rescue  of  mankind  is  ac- 
complished. 

In  1838,  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts  adopted  the 
famous  fifteen-gallon  law,  which  greatly  injured  the  retail 
traffic.  It  was,  in  fact,  almost  death  to  the  saloon,  in 
those  days,  when  laws  were  made  to  be  executed,  and  not 
to  be  evaded  or  to  serve  as  a legal  cloak  for  crime. 

This  law  prohibited  the  retailing  of  any  spirituous  liquors, 
except  for  medicine  and  for  use  in  the  arts,  by  apothecaries 
and  physicians  specially  licensed — in  quantities  of  less  than 
fifteen  gallons,  and  that  delivered  and  carried  away  all  at 
one  time. 

In  many  other  States  like  laws  were  enacted,  many  of 
them  soon  to  be  repealed  ; but  the  agitation  or  movement 
had  been  placed  upon  the  right  track,  and  the  engineer  knew 
whither  to  run  his  train.  Scores  of  years  might  and  will 
elapse  before  it  arrives  at  the  millennial  terminus  : but  it  is 
only  a question  of  time,  the  avoiding  of  accidents  and  the 
removal  of  obstructions.  The  contest  in  legislation  had 
previously  been  between  license,  or  regulation,  and  entire 
freedom  from  all  restraint.  Henceforth  it  was  to  be  practi- 
cally conceded  that  the  liquor  trade  is  amenable  to  law,  and 
that,  unlike  useful  occupations,  the  public  good  requires  its 
regulation  or  restraint. 

Ever  since  that  time  the  real  controversy  has  been 
between  license  as  a form  of  alleged  restraint,  accompanied 
with  a certain  cash  interest  or  partnership  by  the  people  in 
the  admifcWd  curse,  on  the  one  hand,  and  war  to  the  death 
against  it,  on  the  other.  In  such  a conflict  there  can  be  no 
compromise,  because  principles  are  incapable  of  selling  out, 
and  human  souls  in  masses  are  honest  and  almost  sure  to  be 
right  so  far  as  they  comprehend  the  issues  involved.  Having 
once  seen  clearly  the  nature  and  effect  of  the  use  of  poi- 
sonous beverages  upon  society,  and  that  prohibition  is  the 
very  essence  of  its  prevention,  as  much  as  prohibition  is  of 
the  essence  of  the  ten  commandments  or  of  legislation 
against  any  other  crime,  the  people  will  cling  to  the  great 
remedy  and  insist  upon  its  use,  notwithstanding  the  nos- 
trums of  honest  or  of  knavish  quackery,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  alternate  coma  and  contortion  of  the  patient. 

28 


434 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


An  effort  was  made  to  wield  the  power  of  the  national 
government  to  the  complete  destruction  of  all  State  legisla- 
tion against  the  trade  ; but  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  decided,  in  the  words  of  Chief  Justice  Taney:  — 

" Every  State  may  regulate  its  own  internal  traffic  accord- 
ing to  its  own  judgment  and  upon  its  own  views  of  the 
interest  and  well-being  of  its  citizens.  ...  If  airp  State 
deems  the  retail  and  internal  traffic  in  ardent  spirits  inju- 
rious to  its  citizens,  and  calculated  to  produce  idleness,  vice 
or  debauchery,  I see  nothing  in  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  to  prevent  it  from  regulating  and  restraining 
the  traffic,  or  from  prohibiting  it  altogether,  if  it  thinks 
proper.” 

This  was  the  result  of  the  famous  liquor  cases  carried  up 
from  the  States  of  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire  and  Rhode 
Island,  decided  in  the  year  1847,  and  to  be  found  in  5 
Howard,  " Reports  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States.”  Thus  much  was  settled  for  the  States ; but  the 
great  questions  of  importation,  exportation  and  transporta- 
tion, and  other  questions  which  grow  out  of  the  powers  of 
the  general  government  to  regulate  commerce,  as  well  as 
inherent  difficulties  which  result  from  the  fact  that  the  evil  is 
national  and  requires  national  action  for  its  removal,  still 
remain,  and  will  remain  until  some  better  day,  when  prohi- 
bition shall  be  written  into  the  constitutions  and  laws  of  both 
the  Nation  and  the  States. 

But  it  was  found  by  experience,  the  Great  Reformer, 
that  prohibition  and  punishment  of  the  retail  sale,  rnereh7, 
were  not  an  efficient  remedy,  for  the  reason  that  the  ease 
and  frequency  with  which  the  offence  was  committed,  com- 
bined with  the  large  profits  of  the  transaction  and  the 
generally  slight  penalties,  almost  always,  in  practice,  a 
small  fine,  enabled  the  seller  to  continue  in  the  profitable 
violation  of  the  law.  There  were  thus  found  to  be  inherent 
and  radical  defects,  which  must  be  remedied,  if  the  reform 
was  to  receive  great  and  permanent  support,  by  even  pro- 
hibitory legislation. 

It  could  hardly  be  said  that  either  license  or  the  moderate 
application  of  prohibition  failed  for  the  want  of  an  adequate 
public  sentiment,  certainly  not  from  lack  of  the  greatest  effort 


THE  WASHINGTONIAN  MOVEMENT. 


435 


to  create  that  sentiment,  for  the  support  of  the  law.  In 
1835,  " more  than  eight  thousand  temperance  societies  had 
been  formed ; more  than  four  thousand  distilleries  had  been 
stopped ; more  than  two  hundred  thousand  persons  had 
ceased  to  use  any  kind  of  intoxicating  liquor ; about  two 
millions  had  ceased  to  use  distilled  liquors,  one  million 
five  hundred  thousand  of  whom  were  enrolled  members  of 
the  temperance  societies.”  ("  Liquor  Problem,”  p.  474.) 

When  the  tide  of  reformation  hesitated,  a new  form  of 
agitation,  electrical  and  almost  volcanic  in  its  character, 
was  developed,  in  what  is  known  as  the  Washingtonian 
movement. 

On  the  evening  of  the  second  day  of  April,  1840,  six 
inebriates,  said  to  have  been  a club  organized  for  " social 
tippling,”  met  in  Chase’s  Tavern,  in  the  city  of  Baltimore. 
A distinguished  lecturer  on  temperance  was  to  speak  in  the 
city  that  night,  and  the  club  sent  a committee  to  hear  the 
lecture  and  report  to  the  club.  The  report  of  the  committee 
was  favorable,  — the  landlord  denounced  temperance  lect- 
ures, a discussion  ensued,  and  a member  of  the  club  said, 
" We  expect  rum-sellers  to  cry  down  temperance  lecturers ; 
it  is  for  your  interest  to  do  so.” 

They  reorganized  the  tippling  club  into  " The  Washington 
Society,”  and  took  the  pledge  of  total  abstinence.  They 
kept  the  pledge,  became  apostles  of  its  principles,  and  the 
movement  spread  all  over  the  land.  In  a few  years  six 
hundred  thousand  drunkards  had  been  reformed,  of  whom, 
however,  all  but  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  returned 
to  their  cups.  The  moral  of  this  movement  is  that  we  must 
save  the  boy  if  we  would  be  sure  of  the  man.  On  the 
whole,  it  may  be  doubted  whether  the  Washingtonian 
excitement  was  a blessing  or  a curse ; because,  unfortu- 
nately, many  of  its  most  zealous  and  active  promoters  dis- 
couraged all  resort  to  the  enactment  and  enforcement  of 
laws  against  the  traffic.  The  result  was  that  when  the 
nervous  exaltation  of  communities  had  passed  away,  and  the 
extra  momentum  of  moral  forces  was  exhausted,  public 
sentiment  not  being  crystallized  into  the  enduring  forms  of 
law,  the  enemy  came  in  again  like  a flood,  and  prevailed 
mightily  once  more.  To  be  sure,  one  hundred  and  fifty 


436 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


thousand  reformed  men  had  adhered  to  their  pledges  and 
were  saved ; but  what  are  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
among  so  many?  And  who  knows  that  the  demoralization 
of  public  sentiment  which  the  Washingtonians  created  in 
their  opposition  to  legal  restraint  was  not  the  principal 
reason  why  the  cup  of  temptation  and  destruction  was  a Rain 
put  to  the  lips  of  the  four  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  who 
fell  and  perished  in  that  last  state  which  is  worse  than  the 
first?  Besides,  we  have  ever  since  been  combating  the 
absurd  theory,  which  is  the  favorite  fortress  of  the  liquor- 
dealers,  that  the  evil  is  increased  because  it  is  prohibited  by 
law.  This  feature  of  the  Washingtonian  movement  must 
have  been  a trace  of  maudlin  insanity  which  pledges  could 
not  eradicate,  and  the  consequent  loss  to  the  coming  genera- 
tion of  the  best  results  of  this  mighty  rushing  wind  from 
heaven  is  full  of  pithy  suggestion  to  those  Mrho  are  engaged 
in  the  temperance  movement  of  to-da}^  Let  society  enact 
laws  when  overshadowed  by  the  highest  and  holiest  inspira- 
tion, and  according  to  the  loftiest  ideals.  Laws  should 
always  be  better  than  the  people  until  the  people  have 
attained  unto  them.  A good  law  should  never  be  repealed 
because  it  is  violated.  It  should  remain  on  the  statute-book, 
like  the  Golden  Buie  in  the  Christian  faith  — as  an  ideal  for 
conduct,  if  nothing  more,  and  as  a rallying-point  for  the 
faithful  and  law-abiding  minority,  until  at  last  the  whole 
community  climbs  to  the  higher  standard,  and  enforces  its 
beneficent  provisions  for  the  general  good. 

But,  even  with  moral  agitation  and  restrictive  law  com- 
bined, the  evil,  although  spasmodically  curtailed,  still  tena- 
ciously remained. 

Yet  the  resolute  determination  of  the  people  to  conquer 
their  own  freedom  from  their  oppressor  did  not  yield,  so  that 
a new  and  most  important  improvement  in  prohibitory  laws 
was  developed. 

It  was  the  Maine  law. 

Neal  Dow  is  the  Columbus  of  prohibition. 

The  Vikings  may  have  discovered  the  coast,  but  they  did 
not  hold  it.  Columbus  revealed  the  New  World  and  it 
became  the  home  of  nations. 

The  Maine  laws  declared  the  liquor  trade  to  be  a nuisance 


Gen.  Neal  Dow , 

“ Father  of  the  Maine  Law.  ” 


THE  MAES' E LAW. 


437 


and  a crime,  and  destroyed  the  contraband  and  forfeited 
stock  of  liquor,  with  all  its  utensils  and  agencies,  like  a kit 
of  burglars’  tools.  In  addition  to  this,  it  increased  personal 
penalties  and  made  imprisonment  easy  whenever  a community 
is  in  earnest. 

The  Maine  law,  in  efficient  form,  was  signed  by  the  Gov- 
ernor June  2,  1851.  Before  its  enactment,  prohibition  had 
been  a barren  fig-tree,  except  in  remarkably  fine  seasons. 
Since  that  time,  whenever  the  lord  of  the  vineyard  has  cared 
for  it,  the  tree  has  borne  good  fruit.  It  does  not  yield  well 
in  the  wild  state ; but  it  is  not  a thistle,  and,  when  prop- 
erly cultivated,  it  produces,  not  thorns,  but  figs. 

The  temperance  movement  had  now  developed  the  two 
great  agencies  of  its  own  promotion,  and  henceforth  there 
could  be  no  doubt  that  the  efforts  of  its  supporters  would  be 
directed  to  secure  total  abstinence  by  the  individual  and  abso- 
lute prohibition  by  the  State. 

For  the  last  thirty-five  yeai’s,  more  than  the  average  life- 
time of  a generation,  the  application  of  these  two  principles 
— abstinence  and  prohibition  — has  been  the  intelligent 
object  of  the  temperance  movement,  and  such  will  necessarily 
continue  to  be  the  plan  of  battle  to  the  end. 

But  the  public  mind  grasps  the  situation  slowly ; and 
every  step  in  advance  is  taken  only  after  experience  has 
demonstrated  its  necessity.  Prohibition  was  long  applied 
merely  to  the  retail  sale.  It  seems  incompi’ehensible  that 
intelligent  law-makers  should  not  have  directed  their  efforts 
first  against  the  manufacture  ; but  it  is  onty  within  the  last 
few  years  that  this  has  been  done  ; and  even  now  the  force 
of  the  temperance  movement  is  largely  wasted  by  misdirec- 
tion. More  slowly  still  has  the  public  mind  been  able  to 
comprehend  the  necessity  of  action  by  the  nation,  in  order 
that  the  entire  sovereignty  of  the  people  may  be  exerted  for 
the  overthrow  of  an  evil  which  is  as  incapable  of  control  by 
the  States  as  the  waters  of  the  ocean  are  of  separation  by 
geographical  lines.  But,  notwithstanding  all  these  and  other 
difficulties,  which  have  been  and  are  and  will  be  encoun- 
tered, the  liquor  traffic  is  doomed  to  destruction  ; because 
the  pul  die  good  demands  it,  and  the  intelligent  conscience  of 
the  people  will  never  rest  until  the  strong  arm  of  the  law 


438 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


has  thrust  the  sword  of  prohibition  through  and  through  the 
monster’s  heart. 

Thus,  through  many  vicissitudes  and  fluctuations,  the  tem- 
perance movement  has  grown  stronger  and  more  sublime 
during  the  last  third  of  a century,  until  now  it  displays  in- 
ternational proportions  and  embraces  the  world  in  its  sweep. 
Always  and  everywhere  its  only  real  victories  have  been 
won  under  the  banner  of  total  abstinence  and  prohibition. 
In  every  controversy,  whether  in  nation,  or  state,  or  county, 
or  other  municipality,  the  test  comes  between  these  two  great 
principles  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  moderate  or  free  use 
— high  or  low  license  or  free  indulgence,  for  it  is  all  one  thin" 

O O 7 o 

ultimately  — on  the  other. 

Guided  by  the  unerring  instinct  of  self-preservation,  the 
traffic  invariably  arrays  itself  with  this  latter  group.  No 
stronger  demonstration  than  this  fact  could  exist,  that  only 
the  former  are  its  enemies,  while  license  and  moderation  are 
its  friends. 

The  intelligence  which  comes  of  incessant  agitation  has 
now  forced  the  issue  to  the  front,  where  it  stands  as  the  great 
moral,  sentimental  and  even  industrial  problem  of  the  times. 
Evasion  or  escape  from  it  is  no  longer  possible.  It  confronts 
all  political  parties,  and  where  they  neglect  or  refuse  to  con- 
sider, it  creates  new  ones  and  old  things  pass  away.  Eeligion 
finds  in  the  liquor  traffic  the  personification  of  all  sin,  and  in 
destroying  it  achieves  the  salvation  of  the  race.  The  hopes 
and  affections  of  domestic  life  have  discovered  in  it  their 
great  enem}- ; and  are  concentrating  against  the  destroyer  of 
manhood,  womanhood,  childhood,  home.  And  now,  be- 
hold ! for  all  the  aroused  faculties  of  the  masses  of  men  are 
in  action  to  achieve  independence  of  the  tyrant  of  the  ages  ; 
and  all  the  attributes  and  powers  of  Almighty  God  are 
pledged  for  their  success. 

The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  has  just  decided,  in  the  Kansas 
cases,  that  the  State  has  full  power  to  prohibit  the  manufacture  and  sale  of 
intoxicating  liquors  within  its  limits,  without  compensation  for  loss  thereby 
occasioned  to  those  previously  engaged  in  the  traffic.  This  settles,  finally 
and  favorably,  a vexed  and  important  question,  which  has  hitherto  greatly 
perplexed  and,  in  some  localities^  retarded  the  temperance  reform. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 


FORCES  AGAINST  ALCOHOL RELIGIOUS  ORGANIZATIONS. 

The  Two  Great  Principles,  Total  Abstinence  and  Prohibition  — Relig- 
ious Organizations  — “One  Hundred  Years  of  Temperance”  — The 
Roll-Call  of  the  Churches — Presbyterian  Church  — John  Wesley 
and  the  Methodist  Champions  — The  Baptist  Position  ; Gov.  George 
N.  Briggs  and  Congressional  Temperance  Society ; Wayland,  Knapp, 
Garrison:  Mississippi  Convention  of  1884:  Dr.  Gifford’s  Summary  — 
Reformed  Dutch  Church  — Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  — 
Lutheran  Church — Society  of  Friends  — United  Brethren  — Disci- 
ples of  Christ — Universalist  Church : Thompson,  Chapin  and  Miner 
— Methodist  Protestant  Church  — Congregational  Churches;  Hum- 
phrey, Evarts,  Beecher,  Justin  Edwards,  Cheever,  Gough,  Wilson 
and  others  — Episcopal  Church  — German  Reformed  Church  — The 
Moravians  — Reformed  Episcopal  — The  Unitarians;  Lowell,  Chan- 
ning,  Ware,  May,  Pierrepont,  Gannett,  Hale,  Faxon  — Free  Baptist 
Church  — Chi’istian  Church  — Church  of  God  — United  Presbyterian 
Church — African  Methodists  — Evangelical  Association — Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  South — The  Unanimity  of  the  Churches  on  this 
Great  Moral  Issue. 

I FIND  it  impossible  within  the  limits  of  a much  larger 
work  than  this  to  enter  upon  a statement  of  the  multi- 
farious details  of  the  temperance  movement  in  recent  years. 
Nor  is  it  necessary,  for  the  most  that  is  important  is  cither 
fresh  in  general  recollection  or  is  accessible  in  the  various 
records  of  contemporaneous  events.  I have  endeavored 
rather  to  write  of  facts  and  principles  which  are  the  elements 
of  the  great  debate,  and  on  which  the  final  decision  of  the  con- 
troversy must  depend,  and  to  avoid  the  endless  and  profit- 
less discussion  of  the  details  of  temporary  measures  and  of 
local  action.  It  is  sufficient  for  this  purpose  to  say  that  it 
seems  to  me  that  all  which  is  desirable  or  permanent  in  the 
temperance  movement  lies  in  the  application  and  enforce- 
ment of  these  two  great  leading  principles  : Total  abstinence 
from  the  use  of  all  intoxicating  beverages  by  the  individual, 
and  absolute  prohibition  thereof  by  public  law.  Whatever 

439 


440 


TIIE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


of  statutory  or  of  constitutional  legislation  by  the  nation  and  by 
the  States,  or  by  the  people  in  limited  localities,  under  the 
peculiar  method  known  as  local-option  laws,  promotes  or 
tends  to  promote  the  ascendency  of  these  principles  is  in  the 
direction  of  permanent  and  desirable  temperance  reform. 
All  else,  in  my  belief,  is  worthless  — a fraud,  a delusion  and 
a snare  — save  only  as  failure  lights  up  the  lamp  of  experience 
to  guide  honest  souls  into  safer  paths  hereafter.  And  really, 
has  not  history  already  recorded  enough  for  the  instruction 
of  all  whose  sincere  desire  is  to  destroy,  rather  than  to  pro- 
tect, this  trade  in  human  bodies  and  souls?  But  capital  and 
appetite  are  a strong  combination,  and  they  have  infinite  in- 
genuity to  devise  and  equal  power  to  execute  means  " not  to 
do  it.”  If  God  was  not  a majority,  it  would  be  a hopeless 
prospect  for  the  temperance  reform.  In  this  and  in  follow- 
ing chapters,  I shall  endeaver  to  give  some  account  of  the 
organizations,  forces  and  instrumentalities  which  are  arrayed 
on  the  side  of  man  in  his  great  conflict  with  alcohol. 

OF  RELIGIOUS  ORGANIZATIONS. 

The  primary  relation  of  man  is  to  his  Creator,  the  Great 
First  Cause,  " whom  we  call  God  and  know  no  more.”  The 
feeling  which  exists  in  consequence  of  this  relation  mani- 
fests itself  in  love,  adoration  and  worship.  It  is  universal, 
ineradicable  and  intense.  It  is  religion  ; and,  whatever  may 
be  the  forms  and  ceremonies  of  its  manifestation,  and  how- 
ever it  may  be  perverted  and  distorted  in  its  development, 
this  element  or  attribute  of  human  nature  is  in  him  the 
source  of  aspiration  and  progress.  It  is  the  elastic  connec- 
tion which  continually  lifts  the  race  as  a whole,  and  exerts  the 
most  powerful  and  permanent  impulse  in  all  reform.  The 
religious  organizations  of  Christendom  demonstrate  this 
truth.  This  elastic  union  between  man  and  his  God  is  often 
strained,  and  sometimes  appears  to  be  broken ; but,  gener- 
ally, it  holds,  and,  let  us  hope,  may  never  fail  in  the  end  to 
draw  every  wandering  planet  again  to  the  bosom  of  its  eternal 
source.  As  might  be  expected,  — in  foot,  must  from  the  laws 
of  nature  be  the  case  — those  organizations  in  society  through 
which  conscience,  morality  and  worship  are  most  actively 
manifested,  the  churches  — religious  bodies  — have  from  the 


THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH. 


441 


first  been,  <ancl  still  continue  to  be,  the  great  visible  force 
which  has  sustained  the  temperance  movement  against  the 
opposition  it  has  encountered.  I do  not  mean  that  they  are 
composed  of  anything  but  "men  of  like  passions  as  our- 
selves.” They  have,  indeed,  required  to  be  enlightened  and 
converted;  but  I do  mean  that  they,  as  organizations,  rep- 
resent the  highest  and  best  in  the  community  — not  all  of  it, 
but  the  majority  of  it ; and  that  every  good  cause  has  very 
largely,  I think  chiefly,  to  rely  upon  them  for  that  ever  pres- 
ent power  which  grinds  the  grist  of  human  welfare.  Large 
volumes  could  be,  have  been,  written,  giving  the  history  of 
temperance  effort  in  each  of  the  great  Christian  denomina- 
tions, and  I can  only  refer  the  reader  to  them  for  all  but  a 
few  very  general  statements.  But  I wish  to  show  the  spirit 
and  attitude  which  the  great  denominations  of  the  Christian 
church,  representing,  as  they  do,  the  highest  and  strongest 
forces  at  work  in  our  civilization,  have  occupied  hitherto,  and 
their  present  position  in  line  of  battle.  " One  Hundred 
Years  of  Temperance,”  published  by  the  National  Temper- 
ance Society,  contains  this  information  in  full.  I am  greatly 
indebted  to  it  for  facts  relating  to  the  Protestant  churches. 

THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  has  noted  and  strongly  opposed 
the  sin  of  intemperance  from  its  organization.  The  Rev. 
Francis  Makemie  was  the  first  Presbyterian  minister  in 
America.  He  was  the  father  of  American  Presbyterianism, 
and  preached  against  intemperance  as  early  as  1705  — and 
similar  utterances  ivere  common  by  the  clergy  of  this  denomi- 
nation ever  afterward. 

The  ancestors  of  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush,  whose  relation  to  the 
reform  is  well  understood,  were  mostly  Quakers  and  Bap- 
tists, but  his  mother  was  a Presbyterian,  and  he  is  himself 
described  by  the  historian  as  a " noble  and  gifted  son  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church.” 

The  constitution  of  the  church  was  adopted  May  28,  1788, 
and  at  the  first  meeting  of  the  assembl}',  which  was  the  next 
year,  "she  expressed  her  determination  to  contribute  her 
part  to  render  men  sober subjects  of  a lawful  gov- 


442 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


eminent.”  In  the  year  1811,  Dr.  Rush  succeeded  in  arous- 
ing the  assembly  to  vigorous  action,  which  accomplished 
great  good,  and,  among  other  things,  occasioned  the  organi- 
zation of  the  Massachusetts  Society  for  the  Suppression  of 
Intemperance. 

Rev.  William  Y.  Brown,  D.D.,  tells  us  " that  it  may  be  said, 
without  any  disparagement  to  others,  that  by  this  deliverance 
of  1811,  and  by  the  subsequent  activity  of  the  committee 

on  correspondence, the  Presbyterian  Church  became 

the  acknowledged  leader  of  God’s  hosts  in  the  temperance 
reform  in  this  country  — a position  which  she  has  nobly  and 
honorably  maintained  for  nearly  three-quarters  of  a century.” 
Even  so  earlv  this  church  began  to  foreshadow  the  doctrine 
of  total  abstinence,  and  its  application  at  least  to  ardent 
spirits,  to  enforce  temperance  by  church  discipline,  to  pro- 
hibit a preacher  from  retailing  " spirituous  or  malt  liquors 
without  forfeiting  his  ministerial  character  amonj  us.”  It 
has  ever  been  the  " supreme  desire  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  to  r secure  ’ the  utter  extermination  of  the  traffic  in 
intoxicating  liquors  as  a beverage.” 

Between  1827  and  1830,  this  church  took  a strong  stand 
for  total  abstinence,  and,  maintaining  itself  ever  in  the 
advance,  declared  for  prohibitory  laws  in  1854,  and  expressed 
the  hope  that  the  time  was  not  far  distant  " when  such  a law 
should  be  universally  adopted  and  enforced.”  From  this 
position  the  Presbyterian  Church  has  never  wavered  since. 
Indeed,  both  stability  of  purpose  and  the  spirit  of  progres- 
sion seem  to  distinguish  this  great  organization. 

In  1883,  the  assembly  adopted  " Dr.  John  Herrick  John- 
son’s Amendment  ” unanimously,  in  the  following  words : 
" In  view  of  the  evils  wrought  by  this  scourge  of  the  race, 
this  assembly  would  hail  with  acclamations  of  joy  and  thanks- 
giving the  utter  extermination  of  the  traffic  in  intoxicating 
liquors  as  a beverage,  by  the  power  of  Christian  conscience, 
public  opinion,  and  the  strong  arm  of  the  civil  law  ” ; and  in 
1885  the  assembly  again  declared : " The  entire  extinction 
of  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  as  a bev- 
erage is  the  goal  to  which  the  assembly  looks  forward,  and 
for  the  accomplishment  of  which  it  expects  the  earnest, 
united,  determined  and  persistent  labors  of  all  its  ministers 


THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH. 


443 


and  people,  in  connection  with  the  religious  and  sober  citi- 
zens of  our  common  country.” 

The  Presbyterian  Church  stops  there  because  there  is  no 
further  to  go.  There  is  no  more  advanced  ground,  and  it  is 
with  just  pride  that  one  of  her  distinguished  sons  (Dr. 
Brown)  exclaims:  "So  hath  this  noble  church  wrought  in 
the  past  century  in  this  great  cause,  and  I have  the  utmost 
confidence  that  she  will  be  true  to  her  past  history  to  the 

end,  and  when the  liquor  traffic  shall  be  outlawed 

in  every  State  in  the  Union,  and  in  the  laws  and  constitution 
of  the  federal  government,  as  it  doubtless  will  be  in  the  near 
future,  when  the  good  angel  of  victory  shall  appear  bring- 
ing the  crown  for  the  most  valiant  soldier,  methinks  1 hear 
the  unanimous  voice  ringing  out  from  all  divisions  of  the 
one  great  army  : ' Let  the  crown  be  placed  upon  the  old  blue 
banner  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  the  standard  that  has 
always  been  in  the  forefront  of  the  hottest  part  of  the  battle, 
for  she  is  worthy  to  receive  it.’  ” 

THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH. 

In  the  year  1760,  John  Wesley,  who  ranks  only  less  than 
the  inspired  Apostles  among  the  great  characters  of  the 
Christian  church,  wrote  the  following  "on  the  sin  of  dis- 
tilling and  selling  spirituous  liquors”  : " But  neither  may  we 

gain  by  hurting  our  neighbor  in  body.  Therefore  we  may 
not  sell  anything  which  tends  to  impair  health,  such  as,  emi- 
nently, all  that  liquid  fire  commonly  called  drams  or  spirit- 
uous liquors.  It  is  true  that  these  may  have  a place  in 

medicine Therefore,  such  as  prepare  and  sell  them 

only  for  that  end  may  keep  their  conscience  clear 

But  all  who  sell  them  in  the  common  way,  to  any  one  who 
will  buy,  are  poisoners  in  general.  They  murder  the  king’s 

subjects  by  wholesale They  drive  them  to  hell  like 

sheep;  — and  what  is  their  gain?  Who  w7ould  envy  their 
large  estates  and  sumptuous  palaces?  A curse  is  in  the 
midst  of  them  — the  curse  of  God  cleaves  to  the  stones,  the 
timber,  the  furniture  of  them  ! The  curse  of  God  is  in  their 
gardens,  their  walks,  their  groves  — a fire  that  burns  to  the 
nethermost  hell!  Blood,  blood,  is  there;  the  foundation,  the 
foor,  the  walls,  the  roof,  are  stained  with  blood!  And  canst 


444 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


thou  hope,  0 thou  man  of  blood!  though  thou  art  'clothed 
in  scarlet  and  fine  linen,  and  farest  sumptuously  every  day,’ 
canst  thou  hope  to  deliver  down  thy  fields  of  blood  to  the 
third  generation?  Not  so,  for  there  is  a God  in  heaven; 
therefore  thy  name  shall  be  rooted  out.  Like  as  those  whom 
thou  hast  destroyed,  body  and  soul,  thy  memorial  shall  per- 
ish with  thee.” 

Mr.  Wesley  exhibited  the  qualities  of  high  statesmanship, 
as  well  as  of  a Christian  teacher,  in  dealing  with  the  liquor 
problem  of  his  day.  From  1743,  when,  by  the  rules  of  the 
"United  Societies  of  Methodists,”  " drunkenness,  buying  or 
selling  spirituous  liquors,  or  drinking  them,  except  in  cases 
of  extreme  necessity,”  wei’e  prohibited,  all  through  his  pro- 
longed and  unparalleled  labors,  he  denounced  the  sin  of 
intemperance,  and  so  bent  the  twig  of  Methodism  that  the 
mighty  tree  inclines  only  to  the  right,  and  gives  neither  shade 
nor  shelter  to  the  chief  curse  of  this  world,  and,  so  far  as 
we  can  judge  from  the  number  and  fate  of  its  victims,  of  the 
next  world  also.  After  giving  the  facts,  Dr.  Buckley  says  : 
"Let  it,  then,  be  remembered  forever  that  American  Metho- 
dism began  as  a total-abstinence  society,  of  the  strictest  sort, 
forbidding  the  manufacture,  the  sale  or  the  use  of  spirituous 
liquors,  except  in  cases  of  extreme  necessity.  Whoever 
violated  that  rule  was  subject  to  discipline  and  branded  as 
inconsistent  by  the  general  rules,  which  were  read  in  his 
hearing  on  all  important  public  occasions.”  Subsequently 
there  was  a partial  decline,  for  this  high  standard  seems  to 
have  taxed  poor  human  nature  beyond  what,  under  the  temp- 
tations of  the  times,  it  could  bear.  For  a while,  they  left 
out  the  word  " extreme  ” before  " necessity  ” ; but  in  the 
General  Conference  of  1828  it  was  resolved:  "Whereas, 
the  rules  and  examples  of  the  Wesleyan  Methodists,  from 
the  founding  of  their  existence  as  a people,  both  in  Europe 
and  America,  were  calculated  to  suppress  intemperance,  and 
to  discountenance  the  needless  use  of  ardent  spirits,  that  all 
our  preachers  and  people  be  expected,  and  they  are  hereby 
expected,  to  adhere  to  their  first  principles,  as  contained  in 
their  excellent  rules  on  this  subject,  and  as  practiced  b}T  our 
fathers,  and  to  do  all  that  they  prudently  can,  both  by  pre- 
cept and  example,  to  suppress  intemperance  throughout  the 


Dr.  J . M.  Buckley, 

Editor  of  “ The  Christian  Advocate." 


THE  BAPTIST  CHURCH. 


445 


land”; and  "That,  to  bring  about  the  reformation 

desired  on  this  subject,  it  is  important  that  ive  neither  drink 
ourselves  (except  medicinally)  nor  give  it  to  visitors  or  work- 
men.” In  1844  the  church  divided,  and  then  and  subse- 
quently the  sentiment  of  the  Methodists,  both  South  and 
North,  seems  to  have  been  for  prohibition  of  the  liquor  evil 
in  all  its  branches.  At  the  first  General  Conference  after  the 
division,  a report  was  adopted  in  which  the  Conference  says  : 
" Me  proclaim  with  peculiar  satisfaction  that  we  now  have 
Mr.  TV  esley’s  rule  on  spirituous  liquors  restored  to  our  gen- 
eral rules.”  "This  was  done  by  a vote  of  2011  to  21,  in 
the  annual  conference  ” (Dr.  Buckley).  In  1852,  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  rejoiced  "greatly,” especially  "that 

God  has  put  it  in  the  hearts  of  civil  rulers  to  interpose  the 
authority  of  the  State  for  the  protection  of  society  against 
what  we  hold  to  be  an  enormous  social  wrong  — the  manu- 
facture  and  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks.”  At  nearly  if  not 
quite  every  General  Conference  since  that  time,  the  same 
ground  has  been  taken,  and  specific  things  prescribed  to  be 
done,  having  in  view  the  greater  efficiency  of  the  clergy  and 
the  membership  in  the  work  of  destroying  the  traffic. 

Dr.  Buckley  writes,  in  " One  Hundred  Years  of  Tem- 
perance ” : " The  ministry  and  active  membership  of  the 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church  are,  almost  to  a man,  zealous 
advocates  of  total  abstinence.  Among  the  ministers,  it 
would  be  difficult  to  find  one  who  is  known  to  use  even 
malt  liquors  as  a beverage.  Among  the  people,  the  general 
practice  is  that  of  total  abstinence.  Probably  there  is  no 
body  of  men  and  women  of  any  considerable  size  in  the 
world  who  purchase  and  use  so  small  an  amount  of  intoxi- 
cating liquors  as  a beverage  as  the  Methodist  Episcopal 

Church and  it  stands  to-day,  in  the  United  States, 

as  an  aggressive  force  second  to  none  in  the  efforts  to  over- 
throw  a system,  with  its  dependent  usages,  which  promotes 
every  moral  and  social  evil,  and  produces  many  misfortunes, 
vices  and  crimes,  which,  without  it,  would  have  no  existence.” 

THE  BAPTIST  CHURCH. 

" The  Baptist  denomination  is  an  archipelago.  Each  local 
church  lifts  itself  independent  of  every  other  church 


446 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


The  denomination  stands  for  State  rights  as  opposed  to 
centralization  in  church  life.”  This  remark  of  Rev.  O.  P. 
Gilford  may  explain  the  reason  why  in  his  sketch  of  the 
connection  of  this  powerful  and  omnipresent  denomination 
with  the  temperance  movement,  he  quotes  little  from  repre- 
sentative bodies  in  regard  to  its  sentiments  during  the  period 
of  temperance  evolution.  But  the  general  fact  is  apparent 
that  the  Baptists,  in  their  several  divisions,  have  been  well 
to  the  front  in  the  war  against  alcohol.  Their  representative 
men  have  delivered  some  of  the  earliest  and  most  decided 
utterances  upon  the  subject.  Gov.  Briggs  was  President  of 
the  Congressional  Temperance  Society. 

President  Wayland  wrote  to  Dr.  Justin  Edwards  in  the  year 
1833  : " I think  the  prohibition  of  the  traffic  in  ardent  spirits 
a fit  subject  for  legislative  enactment,  and  I believe  the  most 
happy  results  would  flow  from  such  prohibition.”  The 
Washingtonian  movement  was  guided  and  fostered  by  and 
under  the  preaching  of  Elder  Knapp.  The  first  temperance 
paper  — the  National  Philanthropist  — was  owned  and  edited 
by  Rev.  William  Collier,  a Baptist.  This  paper  was  estab- 
lished in  the  year  1826,  as  noted  in  the  preceding  chapter. 
It  was  a very  great  achievement  to  catch  the  spirit  of  the 
press,  and  yoke  its  mighty  but  somewhat  reluctant  powers  to 
the  car  of  temperance  reform.  'William  Lloyd  Garrison, 
who  was  editor  of  the  Philanthropist  in  1829,  then  wrote  as 
follows:  "Prior  to  that  period  (1826)  intemperance  was 
seldom  a theme  for  the  essayist ; the  newspapers  scarcely 
acknowledged  its  existence,  except  occasionally,  in  connec- 
tion with  some  catastrophe  or  crime,  and  it  did  not  occur  to 
any  one  that  a paper  devoted  mainly  to  its  suppression  might 
be  made  a direct  and  successful  engine  in  the  great  work  of 
reform.  When  this  paper  was  first  proposed,  it  met  with  a 
repulsion  which  would  have  utterly  discouraged  a less  zealous 
and  persevering  man  than  our  predecessor.  The  moralist 
looked  on  doubtfully ; the  whole  community  esteemed  the 
enterprise  desperate.  By  extraordinary  efforts,  and  under 
appalling  disadvantages,  the  first  number  was  given  to  the 
public ; and  since  that  time  it  has  gradually  expanded  in  size 
and  increased  in  circulation,  till  doubt,  and  prejudice  and 
ridicule  have  been  swept  away.”  Dr.  Justin  Edwards  re- 


THE  BAPTIST  CHURCH. 


447 


ported  the  First  and  Second  Baptist  Churches  of  Boston,  in 
1823,  as  having  no  member  engaged  in  the  liquor  traffic,  and 
the  Boston  Bapt  ist  Bethel  has  sustained  a Monday  evening 
temperance  meeting,  every  week,  for  more  than  forty  years, 
and  has  a pledge  containing  over  20,000  names  ("One  Hun- 
dred Years  Temperance,”  p.  317).  In  1835,  a New  Jersey 
association  of  churches  declared  " that  it  is  morally  wrong 
in  all,  but  especially  in  a professor  of  religion,  to  manufac- 
ture, vend  or  use  such  liquors  (intoxicating  or  alcoholic) 
as  a common  article  of  luxury  or  living.”  It  will  be  ob- 
served that  this  early  declaration  also  includes  fermented 
drinks  within  its  terms. 

They  also  declare  for  total  abstinence,  and  for  the  expul- 
sion from  their  communion  of  all  who  make,  vend  or  use 
intoxicating  liquors  as  a common  article  of  luxury  or  living, 
if  they  should  prove  to  be  incorrigible  after  affectionate  and 
earnest  efforts  to  reclaim  them.  From  1883  to  the  present 
time,  the  State  conventions  of  this  great  denomination,  all 
over  the  country,  have  been  very  emphatic  for  total  absti- 
nence and  for  prohibition.  I quote  from  the  resolutions  of 
the  Mississippi  convention  of  1884  : 

“ Resolved , That  we  raise  our  uncompromising  protest  against 
the  use,  manufacture  or  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  as  a beverage  ; 
against  the  renting  of  property  for  the  manufacture  or  sale  of 
intoxicating  liquors ; the  selling  of  the  fruits  and  cereals  to  be 
manufactured  into  this  beverage  ; the  signing  of  whisky  petitions 
or  going  on  the  bonds  of  liquor  sellers,  and  against  giving  counte- 
nance in  any  way  to  the  iniquitous  traffic  or  use. 

u Resolved,  That  the  cause  of  Christ  is  greatly  injured  by 
churches  retaining  in  their  fellowship  whisky  sellers,  whisky 
drinkers,  visitors  of  saloons,  and  signers  of  petitions  to  sell  whis- 
ky, and  those  who  persist  in  lending  their  influence  to  Satan  in 
these  ways  should  be  brought  under  church  discipline. 

“ Resolved,  That  we  will  use  our  influence  to  secure  an  enforce- 
ment of  the  existing  statutes  in  regard  to  the  traffic  in  intoxi- 
cating beverages,  and  that  we  will  endeavor  to  bring  about 
prohibition  as  soon  as  practicable.  That  we  believe 

“First,  that  the  most  effectual  legal  remedy  for  the  manifold 
evils  of  intemperance  is  constitutional  prohibition. 

“Second,  the  licensed  liquor  traffic  to  be  the  enemy  of  the 
church,  a disgrace  to  civilization  and  humanity. 


448 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


“ Third,  we  believe  it  to  be  our  duty  to  support  for  office  such 
candidates  as  are  in  favor  of  temperance  reform,  other  things 
being  equal. 

“ Resolved , That  we  rejoice  at  the  progress  of  legal  prohibition 
in  our  State  and  throughout  the  United  States.” 

What  a marvel  of  completeness  and  power ! " Only  one 

thing  thou  lackest,”  and  that  will  yet  be  supplied  by  the 
developing  necessities  of  the  case  — an  emphatic  crowning 
resolve  for  national  prohibition.  A people  thus  in  earnest 
will  find  the  way . 

Mr.  Gifford  thus  sums  up  for  the  Baptist  denomination  : 
" We  have  the  honor, 

" 1.  Of  establishing  the  first  temperance  newspaper,  and 
leading  the  way  to  the  founding  of  the  Temperance  Publica- 
tion House. 

"2.  Of  one  of  the  first  utterances  for  Prohibition. 

"3.  Of  originating  the  Washington  movement. 

" 4.  Of  the  oldest  continuous  temperance  service. 

"5.  Of  standing  squarely,  as  a denomination,  for  total 
abstinence  for  the  individual  and  prohibition  for  the  State.” 

THE  REFORMED  DUTCH  CHURCH. 

This  ancient  organization  was  planted  in  the  New  World 
from  Holland,  on  the  island  of  Manhattan,  as  earl}7  as  the 
year  1623.  For  three  centuries  at  least,  this  church  has 
been  a deadly  foe  to  the  excessive  use  of  intoxicating  drinks, 
and  has  forbidden  those  guilty  of  such  indulgence  the  sacra- 
ment of  Holy  Communion,  and  its  discipline  has  been  most 
rigorously  enforced. 

In  the  year  1828,  the  following  declaration  was  made  for 
total  abstinence  : 

“ Resolved,  That  the  principle  adopted  by  many  individuals 
and  societies,  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  for  the  suppres- 
sion of  intemperance,  viz.,  total  abstinence  from  the  use  of  ardent 
spirits,  excepting  only  its  use  as  a medicine,  meets  with  the 
decided  approbation  of  this  synod.” 

The  records  of  this  church  are  replete  with  emphatic 
utterances  for  total  abstinence  and  the  promotion  of  the 
great  work  of  temperance  reform  by  every  rational  means, 


THE  CUMBERLAND  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH. 


449 


from  the  beginning  until  now.  The  Rev.  C.  L.  Wells,  D.D., 
claims  for  this  church  that,  "in  its  ministry  and  member- 
ship, it  presents  as  fair  a record  for  purity,  Christly  living 
and  devotion  to  the  welfare  of  humanity  as  any  church  in 

this  broad  land Wherever  a Reformed  Dutch  Church 

is  established,  there  you  find  earnest  advocates  of  ' law  and 
order,’  of  sound  reform,  of  temperance,  and  determined 
opposition  to  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  drink.  We  claim  to 
stand  among  the  leaders  in  this  enterprise.  Such  is  the  alti- 
tude of  our  church  toward  this  work.” 

And  so  we  salute  thee  — venerable  ! and  without  a stain  ! 

THE  CUMBERLAND  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH. 

This  denomination  is  seventy-seven  years  old.  Born  in  a 
time  of  general  religious  and  temperance  revival,  from  the 
beginning  it  has  been  a temperance  church. 

In  the  year  1881,  the  assembly  ordered  "that  our  peo- 
ple be  advised  to  favor  the  passage  of  prohibitory  laws, 
and  that  they  vote  for  men  who  will  both  make  and  execute 
such  laws”;  and  in  1885  this  denomination  declared  for 
national  prohibition,  with  a clearness  and  emphasis  which 
entitle  it  to  prominent  leadership  in  the  great  conflict  of  the 
world.  Who  shall  lead  but  those  who  can  see?  Hear  the 
assembly!  — After  enumerating  the  various  general  princi- 
ples and  measures  embraced  in  the  movement,  they  say : 

" We  should  regard  the  foregoing  and  other  methods  of 
temperance  work  as  but  means  to  the  end  at  which  the  spe- 
cial and  wonderful  movement  of  the  da}'  aims,  and  that  is  so 
devoutly  to  be  prayed  for  — the  national  abolition  of  the 
drink  traffic.  This  is  the  transcendent  issue  of  the  hour.” 
Rev.  J.  Reed  Morris  thus  sums  up  a most  interesting  sketch  : 

" Be  it  observed  that  ecclesiastical  orthodoxy,  in  this  age 
of  the  world,  is  measured  largely  by  a church’s  attitude  to- 
ward the  liquor  traffic If,  as  has  been  hereinbefore 

maintained,  this  church  stands  in  the  front  rank  of  the 
great  battle-line  of  the  Lord’s  host,  arrayed  in  fierce  con- 
flict against  the  monster  foe,  Intemperance,  there  is  no 
ground  for  vain-glory. 

“ The  watchword  of  the  day  is  — 'Go  forward.’  There- 
fore, the  imperative  demand  upon  all  who  are  committed  to 
29 


450 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


this  transcendent  issue  is  to  gird  on  the  armor  anew  for  a 
yet  mightier  onset  against  a common  foe  to  both  civil  and 
religious  interests.” 

TIIE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH. 

The  Lutheran  Church  is  older  than  the  temperance  refor- 
mation— -centuries  older  than  the  modern  temperance  move- 
ment for  total  abstinence  and  prohibition.  It  has,  however, 
thrown  the  influence  of  its  strong  German  intellectuality  and 
deep  religious  feeling  against  the  drinking  tendencies  of  the 
people  at  all  times,  and,  after  the  manner  of  massive  natures, 
this  great  church,  becoming  fairly  aroused,  has  of  late  years 
been  among  the  most  radical  and  advanced  of  any,  in  its 
expressions  and  action  against  the  rum  traffic. 

In  1871,  the  General  Synod  says  : 

“ Resolved. , That  we  are  more  than  ever  thoroughly  convinced 
of  the  necessity  of  thoroughly  educating  the  public  mind  upon 
the  elementary  truths  of  temperance,  by  making  free  and  proper 
use  of  the  platform,  the  press  and  the  pulpit ; ...  at  the  same 
time  we  are  fully  satisfied  that  judicious  legislation  is  indispen- 
sable to  complete  success,  and  that  we  hold  ourselves  in  readiness 
to  co-operate  with  the  friends  of  the  cause  in  securing  and  enforc- 
ing such  laws  as  will  effectually  suppress  the  evils  of  intemper- 
ance among  us.” 

Since  then  various  State  synods  have  taken  strong  ground 
against  the  liquor  traffic,  that  of  West  Pennsylvania  being 
specially  noticeable  in  its  demand  for  strong  prohibitory 
legislation,  and  resolving  that  “ we  will  continue  to  protest, 
to  preach  and  to  pray  against  the  rum  traffic,  and.  under 
every  favorable  opportunity,  we  will  vote  as  we  pray." 

Dr.  Swartz  well  says,  in  concluding  his  sketch  : “ Recog- 
nizing the  fact  that  the  Lutheran  Church  in  this  country  is 
largely  recruited  by  emigration  from  the  Old  World,  and  that 
this  foreign  element  brings  with  it  un-American  prejudices 
and  customs,  especially  in  regard  to  total-abstinence  princi- 
ples and  practice,  it  is  not  strange  that  Lutherans  have  been 
beset  with  peculiar  difficulties  and  hindrances  in  achieving  a 
fair  standing  and  making  a good  record  with  other  less 
embarrassed  workers  in  the  great  temperance  reform.  On 


THE  SOCIETY  OF  FRIENDS. 


451 


this  very  account,  however,  all  the  more  needful  is  the 
co-operation  of  the  Lutheran  bodies  with  the  hosts  of  tem- 
perance workers  in  other  churches.  The  Lutherans  have  a 
grand  mission,  and  they  are  nobly  and  hopefully  arising  to 
meet  their  peculiar  responsibilities.  Let  them  have  at  once 
the  sympathies  and  prayers  of  all  temperance  reformers/’ 

THE  SOCIETY  OF  FRIENDS. 

The  Quakers  originated  in  England,  about  1660.  They 
have  always  been  pronounced  in  their  opposition  to  war,  the 
slave  trade,  slavery  and  intemperance.  The  society  is 
separated  into  subdivisions  called  yearly  meetings,  which  are 
the  law-makers  and  governing  body,  independent  of  each 
other,  but  having  a fraternal  and  advisory  relation,  which  is 
maintained  by  correspondence.  I will  cite  from  the  recent 
declarations  of  these  meetings,  to  show  the  attitude  of  the 
society  toward  the  traffic  in  alcohol. 

In  the  year  1874,  the  yearly  meeting  of  New  England 
appointed  a committee  to  “ put  forth  earnest  efforts  to  sup- 
press the  wicked  traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks,”  and  an 
appropriation  was  made  to  their  use.  In  1876  are  reported 
labors  to  promote  constitutional  prohibition,  scientific  instruc- 
tion in  schools,  etc.  The  Philadelphia  yearly  meeting  and 
ten  others  in  various  States  occupy  substantially  the  same 
grounds  as  that  of  New  England,  above  cited.  During  most 
of  the  history  of  the  society  it  has  been  consistently  opposed 
to  intemperance,  and,  by  the  sincerity  and  honesty  of  life 
manifested  in  their  intercourse  with  the  people,  a strong 
influence  for  temperance  has  been  exerted  in  favor  of  the 
temperance  cause  by  this  class  of  Christians.  The  particu- 
lar action  of  each  yearly  meeting  for  many  years  is  faithfully 
given  by  Mr.  William  Egerton  in  “One  Hundred  Years  of 
Temperance.” 


THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST. 

This  denomination  was  organized  in  the  year  1800,  in  a 
dwelling  over  the  store-  room  of  a distillery  which  belonged 
to  one  of  the  brethren. 

In  1821,  the  Third  General  Conference  resolved  "that 


452 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


neither  preachers  nor  lay  members  shall  be  allowed  to  carry 

on  a distillery and  that  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the 

preachers  to  labor  against  the  evils  of  intemperance.”  In 
1833,  the  General  Conference  adopted  a rule  making  it  an 
offense,  punishable  with  expulsion,  for  an  exhorter,  preacher 
or  elder  to  manufacture  or  sell  ardent  spirits,  and  gave  a 
year’s  grace  wherein  those  so  engaged  could  close  out  their 
business.  In  1848,  the  use,  as  well  as  the  manufacture  and 
sale,  was  forbidden  to  all  members. 

In  1881,  the  General  Conference  said:  "We  will  not 
relax  our  efforts  until  constitutional  prohibition  shall  be 
secured  in  every  State  of  this  our  great  domain.”  In  1885, 
the  same  position  was  reaffirmed,  and  the  church  urged  " to 
strive  in  every  legitimate  way  to  secure  constitutional  prohi- 
bition, both  State  and  national.” 

The  Rev.  E.  S.  Lorenz  sums  up  as  follows:  “But 
whether  identified  with  the  political  party  or  not,  all  United 
Brethren  are  Prohibitionists,  and  can  be  depended  upon  to 
vote  right  when  constitutional  prohibition  is  offered  to  the 

people Not  a century  old  by  half  a generation,  the 

Church  of  the  United  Brethren  in  Christ  is  fully  abreast, 
clergy  and  laity,  with  the  most  advanced  results  of  the 
closing  century  of  temperance  work,  and  promises  to  do  no 
mean  share  of  the  work  which  the  opening  century  is  pledged 
to  accomplish.” 


THE  " DISCrPLES  OF  CHRIST.” 

This  denomination  was  organized  in  the  year  1811.  and 
already  has  about  six  hundred  thousand  members.  It  is 
one  of  the  most  active,  and  may  yet  become  one  of  the  most 
powerful,  in  Christendom.  As  a body,  the  " Disciples  ” are 
strongly  against  the  evil  of  intemperance,  but  have  made  less 
explicit  declarations  against  it  through  their  conventions  than 
most  other  denominations,  because  of  the  strictness  with 
which  their  constitution  excludes  the  consideration  of  ques- 
tions not  wholty  and  directly  relating  to  matters  devout. 
But  the  general  expression  of  individual  membership,  as 
obtained  by  Mr.  F.  M.  Green,  is  for  total  abstinence  and 
prohibition,  and  they  favor  political  action  of  a radical 
character. 


THE  UNI  VERS  ALIST  CHURCH. 


453 


THE  UNITE RSALIST  CHURCH. 

This  church  was  organized  in  1790,  and  in  the  year  1800, 
in  order  to  avoid  the  appearance  of  evil  in  assembling  at 
taverns,  where  liquor  was  generally  abundant,  the  Conven- 
tion resolved  "that  the  council  of  the  Convention  do  assem- 
ble in  future  at  the  private  house  of  a brother  or  sister,  as  it 
becometh  us  to  abstain  from  the  appearance  of  evil.”  In 
1835  strong  temperance  resolutions  were  adopted  by  the 
General  Convention.  In  1856,  the  General  Convention 
classed  slavery  and  intemperance  together,  and  insisted  that 
" the  enormous  evils  ” arising  from  both  " are  themes  within 
the  domain  of  the  moral  and  religious  teacher” ; and  in  vari- 
ous  State  conventions,  from  time  to  time,  total  abstinence 
and  legal  prohibition  have  been  strongly  endorsed,  and, 
within  the  last  few  years,  prohibition  by  constitutional  law. 
Rev.  Edwin  Thompson  has  been  one  of  the  most  active  and 
important  laborers  in  the  temperance  reform.  It  was  of  him 
that,  when  some  spoke  of  him  as  the  "main  spoke  in  the 
wheel,”  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher  exclaimed,  " Indeed,  it  seems  to 
me  that  he  has  been  the  hub  and  all  the  spokes,  and  a con- 
siderable part  of  the  rim ! ” Rev.  Dr.  Chapin  will  be 
remembered  as  for  years  the  most  eloquent  American  divine, 
and  very  prominent  in  the  temperance  reform,  while  Dr.  A. 
A.  Miner,  " who  conducted  for  the  people  of  Massachusetts, 
before  the  legislative  committee,  the  defense  of  prohibition 
against  the  assaults  of  Gov.  Andrew,  and  is  now  president 
of  the  Massachusetts  Alliance,”  is  fittingly  designated  as  the 
"unequalled  champion  of  radical  temperance  measures  in 
New  England.”  Dr.  Richard  Eddy’s  sketch  is  much  more 
full  than  the  few  facts  which  I have  gleaned  from  it.  This 
denomination  has  many  distinguished  names  of  men  honora- 
bly connected  with  the  temperance  movement,  among  whom 
it  would  be  injustice  should  I omit  to  mention  that  of  Dr. 
Edd}7  himself. 

THE  METHODIST  PROTESTANT  CHURCH. 

This  church  was  organized  in  1830.  Its  first  " deliv- 
erance” against  intemperance  was  made,  as  follows,  by 


454 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


the  General  Conference  which  framed  its  Constitution  and 
Discipline  : 

“1.  Jlesolved,  That  the  efforts  of  the  friends  of  temperance 
to  promote  entire  abstinence  from  the  use  of  ardent  spirits,  except 
as  a medicine,  meet  our  cordial  approbation. 

“ 2.  Jlesolved , That  we  deeply  regret  that  any  professed 
Christians  should  at  this  day,  and  under  the  lights  which  Provi- 
dence has  furnished,  continue  to  manufacture,  vend  or  use  ardent 
spirits. 

“3.  Resolved , That  we  earnestly  hope  that  the  making,  vend- 
ing and  using  of  distilled  liquors,  as  an  article  of  luxury  or  diet, 
will  be  abandoned  by  all  the  friends  of  the  lledeemer,  throughout 
the  world.” 

Fifty  years  later  the  General  Conference  declared,  " The 
manufacture,  sale  and  use  of  intoxicating  liquors,  as  a bev- 
erage, is  a violation  of  the  teaching  of  the  Bible,  and  is 
opposed  to  the  best  interests  of  our  country  ” ; in  favor  of 
"moral  suasion  ” and  "legal  prohibition,”  and  that  "total 
abstinence  from  alcoholic  beverages  is  the  Bible  rule  of 
temperance.”  And  again,  in  1884: 

“ Resolved , That  we  believe  that  the  most  successful  way  to 
suppress  the  traffic  in  intoxicants  is  constitutional  prohibition.” 

The  resolutions  of  the  annual  conferences  of  this  church 
have  been  numerous,  progressive,  earnest  and,  finally,  rad- 
ical, in  opposition  to  the  liquor  traffic,  and,  in  the  words  of 
Bev.  B.  F.  Benson,  "these  successive  deliverances,  running 
from  1830  to  the  present  time,  exhibit  the  gradual  develop- 
ment of  temperance  doctrines,  from  a mild  form  of  persuasion, 
in  which  Christian  people  are  advised  not  to  sell  or  drink 
intoxicating  spirits,  to  the  most  positive  denunciation  of  their 
use  as  utterly  inconsistent  with  the  Christian  profession,  and 
the  sale  as  a crime  against  society,  which,  like  other  crimes, 
should  be  prohibited  by  the  laws  of  the  land.  And  this 
latter  is  the  position  of  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church  at 
this  time.” 


THE  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCHES. 

These  churches  are  independent  Christian  republics. 
They  have  not  even  a federal  union,  and.  living  almost 
always  in  peace,  the}’  have  no  articles  of  confederation  for 


George  A . Bailey , 

Head  of  the  Good  Templars  in  A~cw  Hampshire. 


THE  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCHES. 


455 


times  of  war.  But  their  form  of  church  government  and  the 
town-meeting  system  have  been  the  very  charters  and  work- 
ing models  of  freedom.  To  borrow  an  ecclesiastical  term, 
they  are  the  " deliverances  ” of  liberty.  National  meetings 
are  rare  with  this  denomination.  Dr.  Langworthy  says 
(p.  377  " One  Hundred  Years  Temperance  ”)  : " Our  confer- 
ences, associations,  and  councils  are  simply  advisory.  For 
more  than  a century  we  had  no  gathering,  elective  or 
otherwise,  that  could  be  called  national.” 

For  this  reason  it  will  not  be  possible  to  gather  the  his- 
tory of  the  temperance  sentiment  of  this  denomination  from 
general  declarations  of  large  representative  bodies.  But 
many  of  the  most  pronounced  leaders  of  the  temperance 
movement  have  been  and  are  among  the  leaders  of  this 
faith,  and  the  church  membership  is  generally  quite  as  radi- 
cal in  opposition  to  the  traffic  as  are  their  representative 
men.  Rev.  Heman  Humphrey,  for  twenty-two  years  presi- 
dent of  Amherst  College,  preached  a series  of  six  temper- 
ance sermons  in  the  year  1810,  "probably  the  first  series 
ever  preached.”  In  1813,  he  published  six  articles  in  the 
JPanojjlist,  on  " the  cause,  origin,  effects  and  remedy  of  in- 
temperance in  the  United  States.” 

I do  not  know  how  the  fact  has  been  with  regard  to  the 
intervening  presidents  of  that  institution,  but  I gladly  em- 
brace this  opportunity  to  testify  of  the  eminent  scholar  and 
noble  man  who  now  presides  over  it,  that,  much  as  the  col- 
lege may  have  gained,  the  country  and  its  councils  lost  still 
more  when  he  left  the  public  service  for  that  of  this  impor- 
tant seat  of  learning.  More  than  anything  whatever  this 
nation  needs  radical,  determined  and  able  public  men 
devoted  to  the  cause  of  national  prohibition,  and  especially 
are  the}'  needed  on  the  floor  of  Congress  ! Great  as  will  be 
the  influence  of  Dr.  Seelye  upon  the  present  and  future  of 
the  country  in  his  present  career,  having  known  him  in  his 
congressional  life,  I can  not  but  regret  the  loss  in  that  arena 
of  his  great  powers  and  his  conscientious  devotion  to  duty 
in  every  good  cause,  and  especially  to  the  great  temperance 
movement  of  this  age,  and  of  all  ages,  of  which  he  is  so  well 
fitted  to  become  the  national  champion. 

Jeremiah  Evarts,  Esq.,  treasurer  of  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M., 


456 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


and  father  of  Senator  Evarts,  became  editor  of  the  Panoplist 
in  the  year  1810,  published  many  articles  which  greatly 
assisted  the  cause  in  that  early  day,  and  was  very  active  in 
the  work  of  temperance  organization.  Rev.  Calvin  Hill 
advocated  total  abstinence  from  spirituous  liquors,  as  early 
as  1812  ; and  Rev.  Roswell  Swan  was  amonsr  the  verv 
earliest  advocates  of  total  abstinence  — and  he  himself 
abstained. 

Dr.  Lyman  Beecher  was  in  his  day  — and  it  was  a long  one 
— probably  the  most  influential  of  the  leaders  in  temperance 
work. 

Of  Rev.  Justin  Edwards,  D.D. , it  is  said  that  he  was  a 
wise  and  fearless  worker  in  the  temperance  cause,  and 
was  the  chief  promoter  of  the  organization  of  the  American 
Temperance  Society,  in  1816.  Rev.  Dr.  Hewett,  Rev.  John 
Marsh,  D.D,,  Rev.  Samuel  Worcester,  D.D.,  President  Day 
of  Yale  College,  President  Lord  of  Dartmouth  College,  Pres- 
ident Hitchcock  of  Amherst  College,  President  Appleton  of 
Bowdoin,  Prof.  Moses  Stuart  of  Andover,  Dr.  Leonard 
Woods,  Hon.  Neal  Dow,  Henry  Wilson,  Vice-President  of 
the  United  States,  John  B.  Gough,  Charles  Jewett,  M.D., 
Rev.  George  B.  Cheever,  author  of  'f  Dea.  Giles’  Distillery,” 
and  many  others,  were  men  without  whom  it  is  impossible  to 
conceive  of  the  temperance  movement.  It  is  difficult  to 
overestimate  the  importance  of  the  services  of  this  body  of 
great  men  to  the  cause. 

Dr.  Langworthy  well  says  : " To  have  had  the  first  organ- 
ized temperance  society  in  the  world,  and  the  first  series  of 
temperance  sermons  ever  preached,  and  the  first  total-absti- 
nence society  ever  formed,  is  a thrilling  summons  to  all  Con- 
gregationalists  to  follow  more  closely  in  the  footsteps  of  their 
own  noble  leaders  ” 

THE  PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH. 

This  church  has  perhaps  formerly  been  more  conservative, 
or  at  least  less  demonstrative,  in  its  relations  to  the  temper- 
ance movement  than  most  others,  but  never  indifferent  to  it ; 
and,  during  the  last  few  years,  has  become  very  active  in  the 
promotion  of  measures  for  individual  reform,  and  to  prevent 
the  young  from  being  " led  into  temptation.”  The  organiza- 


THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH. 


457 


tion  of  the  American  Church  Temperance  Society  utilizes  the 
abilities  and  resources  of  all  who  are  willing  to  oppose  the 
evils  of  intemperance,  whether  in  their  personal  habits  they 
be  abstainers  or  otherwise,  the  basis  on  which  the  work  of 
the  society  is  conducted  being  "union  and  co-operation,  on 
perfectly  equal  terms,  for  the  promotion  of  temperance,  of 
those  who  use  temperately  and  those  who  abstain  entirely 

from  intoxicating  drinks  as  beverages.” And  as  to 

means  it  is  said  : " Supreme  above  all  others  we  recognize 
the  grace  of  God,  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  as  the 
means  by  which  the  reform  of  the  intemperate  is  to  be 
sought.”  Dr.  Da  Costa  gives  a minute  and  valuable  account 
of  the  working  of  this  society,  and  of  the  growing  energy 
with  which  the  deep  piety  and  vast  power  of  this  great  branch 
of  the  Christian  church  is  being  concentrated  in  practical 
ways  for  the  destruction  of  the  liquor  traffic.  It  can  not  be 
long  before  it  will  be  found  in  the  front  rank  of  the  battle  ; 
and,  when  it  gets  there,  it  will  come  with  steady,  organized 
and  irresistible  force. 

Dr.  Da  Costa  say7s  (p.  383,  "One  Hundred  Years,”  etc.) : 
" The  condition  of  the  temperance  work  in  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  at  the  present  time  may  not  be  expressed 
adequately  in  statistics,  and  the  effort,  therefore,  is  not 
attempted.  It  may  be  said,  however,  that  the  leaven  is- 
gradually  leavening  the  whole  lump  ; and  that,  passing  beyond 
the  bounds  of  the  body7  in  connection  with  which  it  was 
organized,  the  Church  Temperance  Society  is  affecting  the  ac- 
tion of  many7  kindred  societies,  and  becoming  a powerful 
factor  in  temperance  work  all  over  the  land.  It  owes  its 
strength  and  efficiency,  first  of  all,  to  the  deeply7  religious 
spirit  in  which  the  movement  was  conceived  ; and,  secondly7, 
to  its  policy7  in  combining  men  of  diverse  views,  who  are 
nevertheless  agreed  respecting  the  common  end.  The 
society  accepts  the  help  of  all,  in  whatsoever  degree  it  may7 
be  offered,  and  engages  in  controversy  with  none.” 

Of  this  society7,  the  late  Hon.  William  E.  Dodge  said 
that  its  organization  formed  " one  of  the  most  important  and 
beneficial  events  of  the  present  century7.” 


458 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


THE  GERMAN  REFORMED  CHURCH. 

The  Rev.  W.  C.  Hendrickson,  in  his  sketch  of  this  church, 
says  that  " it  is  one  of  the  oldest  religious  denominations  in 
this  country,”  and  that  " the  progress  of  the  temperance 
cause  during  the  last  hundred  years  is  a marked  feature  in  its 
history.  Many  of  the  fathers  now  living  remember  when 
intoxicating  liquors  were  freely  used  upon  all  churchly  occa- 
sions, and  considered  as  one  of  the  spiritual  influences  re- 
quired to  stimulate  church  work It  was  not  consid- 

ered a misdemeanor  to  give  a sufficient  amount  to  create  the 
happy  feeling .”  Thus  it  appears  that,  in  common  with 
others,  Christian  ceremonies  in  this  church  were  celebrated 
in  a manner  not  inconsistent  with  the  rites  of  a heathen 
divinity.  See  now  what  has  happened.  'Within  the  last  ten 
years,  the  General  Synods  held  at  Tiffin,  Ohio,  denounced 
■"  especially  the  monster  evil,  intemperance  in  1884,  the 
General  Synod  at  Baltimore  reaffirmed  the  same  action,  and 
within  a few  years  the  Eastern  Synod  held  at  Bellefontaine, 
Pa.,  and  the  'Western  Synod  have  adopted  the  following 
" strong  deliverance  ” : 

“ Whereas,  the  almost  incredible  amount  of  8500,000,000  is  an- 
nually  expended  in  the  United  States  for  intoxicating  liquors;  and 
whereas,  one  half  of  the  taxes  levied  on  the  people  of  the  United 
States  are  directly  chargeable  to  the  use  of  alcoholic  beverages  ; 
and  whereas,  the  most  appalling  amount  of  crime,  suffering  and 
disgrace  is  caused  by  the  liquor  traffic;  and  whereas,  the  efforts 
hitherto  made  have  failed  to  furnish  an  adequate  remedy ; there- 
fore, 

“Resolved , That  the  synod  favors  the  total  prohibition  of  the 
manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks  as  a beverage,  by  con- 
stitutional amendment. 

“ Resolved , That  the  synod  earnestly  desires  its  pastors,  elders, 
deacons  and  people  to  continue  to  use  all  proper  means  to  educate 
the  public  mind  and  conscience  to  the  approval  of  this  remedy.” 

Like  action  has  been  taken  lry  the  synods  of  Ohio  and 
Pittsburg,  and  such  is  the  present  attitude  of  the  Reformed 
Church.  National  prohibition  is  the  crowning  conception  of 
temperance  reform  ; save  only  international  prohibition,  cov- 
ering the  whole  world.  Amen. 


THE  BIBLE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 


459 


THE  BIBLE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH 
antedates  the  other  Christian  churches,  probably,  "in  the 
adoption  of  total  abstinence  from  all  intoxicating  liquors  ” 
as  a condition  of  membership.  The  Rev.  William  Cowherd 
organized  such  a church  in  the  year  1809. 

In  1823,  Rev.  William  Metcalfe  published  a tract  “on 
the  duty  of  entire  abstinence  from  all  intoxicating  drinks.” — 
This  includes  fermented  drinks,  as  well  as  ardent  spirits.  — 
He  inculcates  "entire  abstinence  from  this  baneful  liquor,” 
and  declares:  — “The  accursed  beverages  outdit  never  to 
gain  admittance  to  our  dwellings ; and,  if  possible,  we 
should  not  even  hear  their  names.” 

Rev.  Henry  S.  Clubb  informs  us  that  this  is  believed  to 
be  the  first  tract  published  in  the  country  " inculcating 
entire  abstinence  from  intoxicating  liquors  ” ; and  that  the 
Bible  Christian  Church  has  never  permitted  " intoxicating 
liquors  within  its  walls.”  Pride  in  such  a record  can  not  be 
a sin. 

THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH. 

The  Moravians  are  for  temperance.  In  1873,  the  Ameri- 
can Synod  takes  this  position:  “It  is  opposed  to  all 
traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks,  and  the  use  as  a beverage  of 
hard  cider,  beer,  ale,  whisk}’,  wine,  brandy,  gin,  rum, 
patent  hitters , etc.,  and  would  respectfully  urge  all  the  mem- 
bers of  our  church  to  abstain  therefrom  ” — and  in  the  year 
1884  the  synod  reaffirmed  the  same.  As  a denomination, 
the  Moravians  are  in  favor  of  legal  measures  for  the  sup- 
pression of  intemperance  and  of  the  manufacture  and  sale  of 
intoxicating  drinks.  Rev.  J.  Taylor  Hamilton  has  compiled 
the  resolutions  of  synods  and  other  matter  demonstrating  the 
attitude  of  this  most  interesting  branch  of  the  Christian 
Church. 

THE  REFORMED  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH, 

as  shown  by  Rev.  W.  T.  Sabine,  holds  advanced  ground 
upon  the  temperance  question.  In  1873,  the  General 
Council  resolved  that  it  " marks  with  pleasure  the  progress 
of  the  temperance  revival  throughout  the  country,  and 
desires  to  put  on  record  its  sympathy  with  that  great 


460 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


movement,  ns  ordered  and  blessed  of  God,  and  hereby 
affectionately  recommends  this  cause  to  the  co-operation 
of  the  clergy  and  laity  of  this  church”;  and  in  1885  places 
on  record  like  declarations,  and  urges  total  abstinence 
" from  the  traffic  and  use  of  all  intoxicating  liquors.” 

THE  SEVENTH-DAY  BAPTISTS. 

Dr.  A.  Id.  Lewis  has  made  up  the  record  of  this  church, 
and  concludes  it  thus:  "The  foregoing  are  representative 
official  utterances  by  the  General  Conference  of  the  Seventh- 
Day  Baptists  in  the  United  States.  They  show  that  the 
denomination  is  a unit,  and  is  radically  committed  to  the 
fundamental  doctrines  of  total  abstinence  for  the  individual 
and  total  prohibition  for  the  Stale." 

Amen  and  Amen. 

THE  UNITARIAN  CHURCH. 

As  with  the  Congregationalists,  the  record  and  the  present 
position  of  the  Unitarians  upon  the  temperance  movement 
are  to  be  found  less  in  what  its  representative  bodies  have 
said  than  in  what  its  representative  men  and  women  have 
both  said  and  done.  Tried  by  this  test,  no  denomination 
has  been  more  active  in  the  cause.  But  its  representative 
bodies  have  not  been  silent. 

As  a fair  specimen  of  the  action  of  its  ministerial  associa- 
tions, I quote  the  following,  from  resolutions  passed  by  the 
Association  of  Norfolk  Count3r,  Mass.,  in  the  year  1882  : 

“ Whereas,  we  look  upon  intemperance  in  the  use  of  ardent 
spirits  as  the  source  of  untold  evils,  in  the  forms  of  poverty, 
ignorance,  wretchedness  and  crime,  therefore, 

“ Resolved,  That  we  urge  upon  all  Christian  people  and  good 
citizens  the  duty  of  renewed  and  persistent  efforts  to  discounte- 
nance and  discourage  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  merely  as  an 
indulgence  of  the  appetite,  and  to  deepen  and  strengthen  the 
sentiment  in  behalf  of  temperance  in  the  community 

“ Resolved,  That  we  favor  legislation  looking  to  the  total  sup- 
pression of  the  manufacture  or  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  for 
use  as  a beverage  ; that  we  are  in  favor  of  as  stringent  laws  as 
can  be  executed,  and  that  we  hope  to  see  a law  upon  the  statute- 
book,  sustained  by  public  sentiment,  which  shall  make  public 
drinking-places  impossible.” 


THE  UNITARIAN  CHURCH. 


461 


In  1872,  the  national  conference  declared  it  to  be  duty  to 
do  all  that  can  be  done,  by  voice  and  pen,  by  life  and  exam- 
ple, to  "arrest  and  destroy  this  mighty  foe  of  civilization,” 
and  in  1884  it  declared  that,  "under  all  the  conditions  of 
modern  society,  we  believe  that  nothing  short  of  a total  dis- 
use of  intoxicating  beverages  can  serve  as  a sure  means  of 
abolishing  and  preventing  the  miseries  and  evils  of  intemper- 
ance.” 

Dr.  Lowell,  Dr.  Channing,  Dr.  Henry  AVarc,  Jr.,  Rev. 
Samuel  J.  May,  Rev.  John  Pierpont,  AArilliam  G.  Elli- 
ott, D.D.,  well  known  throughout  the  Mississippi  Valley, 
Dr.  Gannett  and  many  others,  who  have  passed  away,  were, 
in  their  time,  among  the  great  champions  of  temperance 
reform. 

Of  the  living,  the  Rev.  Edward  Everett  Hale,  the  — 
but  the  time  and  space  would  fail  me  to  write  the  names 
which  belong  on  the  brilliant  roll  of  mighty  men  and  women 
who  are  now  at  the  forefront  of  battle  in  this  temperance 
war  — and  what  is  true  of  the  clergy  is  equally  true  of  the 
laity  of  this  denomination. 

I shall  be  pardoned  if  I mention  by  name  Henry  H.  Faxon 
of  Quincy,  whose  intense  zeal  has  never  lacked  for  discretion, 
and  who  has  beaten  the  devil  so  far  every  time,  and,  when- 
ever it  was  necessary,  has  done  it  with  his  own  tire.  A 
practical  man,  who  sees  to  it  that  those  who  take  the  sword 
perish  by  the  sword.  Ten  such  men  would  save  the  United 
States. 

Of  Mrs.  Mary  A.  Livermore  I write  with  the  respectful 
reverence  which  is  due  to  one  of  the  ablest  minds  of  either 
sex,  adorned  with  all  the  graces  and  angelic  excellencies  of 
her  own.  Her  services  to  the  cause  of  temperance  and  its 
great  companion,  the  full  suffrage,  so  that  the  freedom  of  the 
race  may  be  complete,  have  not  been  surpassed. 

Rev.  S.  AV.  Bush,  who  has  prepared  a very  interesting 
review  of  the  work  and  position  of  the  denomination,  con- 
cludes thus  : " AAThatever  real  service  this  body  of  Chris- 
tians has  rendered  to  the  temperance  cause,  just  so  far  has  it 
aided  in  the  establishment  among  men  of  the  kingdom  of 
God.” 


462 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


THE  FREE  BAPTIST  CHURCH. 

This  denomination  has  always  been  in  the  advance  of 
every  reform.  They  belong  to  the  light  infantry  — the 
Zouaves  of  heaven.  Nor  are  they  without  cavalry  and  heavy 
artillery — an  army  complete,  without  bummers  or  stragglers, 
always  fighting  or  on  the  march  for  another  battle. 

In  the  year  1828,  the  General  Conference  resolved  "that 
we  advise  the  members  of  our  churches  to  abstain  from 
the  use  of  ardent  spirits,  on  all  occasions  except  when  they 
are  necessary  as  a medicine.” 

In  1837,  they  adopted  a still  stronger  resolution,  and 
spoke  thus  of  the  traffic : " The  vending  of  intoxicating 
liquors  is  productive  of  poverty,  ignorance,  suffering,  vice 
and  crime  of  every  description  ; also  of  disease  and  death ; 
that  the  dealer  in  intoxicating  drinks  is  therefore  responsible 
for  the  evils  of  which  he  is  knowingly , unnecessarily  and 
voluntarily  the  author,  and  should  be  regarded  by  the  com- 
munity as  guilty  of  all  the  misery,  crime  and  death  which 
he  produces ; that  our  law-givers  should,  by  the  enactment  of 
just  laws,  protect  the  community  from  this  baneful  and  merci- 
less traffic.” 

In  1853,  the  General  Conference  resolved  "that  the 
traffic  in  intoxicating  liquors  is,  in  its  nature,  nearly  allied  to 
theft  and  robbery ; and  in  its  consequences  far  exceeds 
them  in  enormity.  That,  while  we  do  not  discard  moral 
suasion,  but  consider  it  an  ally  essential  to  the  greatest  abil- 
ity of  laws ; yet,  in  our  opinion,  nothing  but  a prohibitory 
law  enforced,  and  embodying  the  principles  of  the  Maine 
law,  will  effectually  suppress  the  abominable  liquor  traffic.” 
On  the  organization  of  a Catholic  Temperance  Society  in 
Dover,  N.  H.,  the  Morning  Star,  the  organ  of  the  denom- 
ination, with  a Christian  liberality  which  points  out  the  exist- 
ence of  feelings  that  should  lead  to  the  reunion  of  the  great 
wings  of  Christendom  in  one  grand  army,  published  the  fol- 
lowing: "We  rejoice  at  the  stand  our  Catholic  neighbors 

are  taking  against  the  use  of  all  intoxicating  drinks 

The  effectual  remedy  for  intemperance  is  total  abstinence 
from  all  intoxicating  drinks.” 

Rev.  B.  D.  Peck,  D.D.,  in  his  sketch,  arranges  many 


THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 


463 


instances  showing  the  red-hot  energy  of  the  leaders  of  this 
denomination  in  the  temperance  Avork.  One  of  them  says  : 
" I identify  myself  Avith  this  reform,  for  better  or  for  Avorse. 
Dear  as  is  the  blood  Avhich  courses  in  my  Areins,  I stand  or 
fall  Avith  it.”  Another  " took  a load  of  barley  ten  miles  to 
market ; and  Avhcn  he  learned  that  it  Avas  to  be  made  into 
intoxicating  liquors,  he  said  to  the  purchaser,  ' You  can  not 
have  my  barley  for  such  a purpose,  ’ reloaded  it,  and  took 
it  home,  preferring  to  lose  it  rather  than  receWe  money  from 
such  a business.”  No  Avonder  that  Neal  Doav  sa}rs  : " I have 
been  well  acquainted  Avith  the  position  of  the  Free  Baptist 
denomination  on  the  subject  of  temperance  and  prohibition, 

from  the  beginning  of  the  organizations and  I do 

not  remember  one  Avho  was  not  thoroughly  a friend  of  this 

great  movement,  as  they  are  to-day Without  them , 

the  cause  would  not  stand  where  it  does  to-day .”  And  to  this 
I will  add  that  with  them  it  will  not  remain  where  it  is  to-day  ; 
it  will  march  steadily  on  to  the  perfect  day  of  national  and 
international  proh  ib  itio  n . 

THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

The  Quadrennial  Convention  of  this  church,  held  in  the 
year  1882,  adopted  the  following  report  on  temperance  : 

“ Whereas,  Intemperance  is  the  greatest  evil  of  the  age,  and 
liquor-selling  the  ‘crime  of  crimes’  against  God  and  man;  there- 
fore, 

“ 1.  Iiesolved,  That  the  United  States  government  ought  at 
once  to  withdraw  its  sanction  and  support  from  the  manufacturers 
and  traffickers  in  intoxicating  liquors. 

“2.  That  we  favor,  and  will  heartily  Avork  for,  Constitutional 
amendments  in  the  various  States  where  Ave  reside,  until  the  pro- 
hibition of  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  all  intoxicants  as  bever- 
ages is  an  accomplished  fact. 

“3.  That,  in  all  future  political  action,  Ave  Avill  carefully  con- 
sider our  relation  to  the  cause  of  temperance,  and  will  insist  that 
men  and  parties  claiming  our  support  shall  stand  square  on  this 
vital  subject. 

“ 4.  That  Ave  condemn,  as  contrary  to  the  Christian  life,  the 
renting  of  buildings  for  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating 
beverages. 

“ 5.  That  Ave  Avill,  as  far  as  possible,  co-operate  Avith  all  churches. 


464 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


societies  and  individuals  in  advancing  the  true  temperance  cause, 
as  voiced  in  the  motto, 

“ ‘ Total  abstinence  for  the  individual  and  total  prohibition  for 
the  State.’  ” 

The  Rev.  B.  F.  Knapp  says  " that  no  retrograde  step 
has  been  taken but  if  any  difference  upon  the  tem- 

perance question,  by  that  body,  its  words  upon  it  have  since 

then  been  still  more  outspoken  and  emphatic and 

that  the  present  status  of  the  Christian  Church  upon  the 
temperance  issue  is  of  more  healthful  and  vigorous  growth, 
and  that,  too,  from  the  prohibition  stand-point,  both  by  State 
and  nation,  than  at  any  period  during  the  century  of  its 
church  work,  ' and  for  which  I feel  to  render  praise  to 
Almighty  God.’” 


THE  CHURCH  OF  GOD. 

The  Rev.  Geo.  Sigler  furnishes  a sketch  (see  "One  Hun- 
dred Years,”  etc.,  p.  412)  quite  full  as  to  the  attitude  of  this 
denomination  upon  the  temperance  question,  showing  that  it 
is  well  advanced  and  strong  for  total  abstinence  and  for  pro- 
hibitory legislation  in  state  and  nation.  Some  of  its  utter- 
ances are  very  emphatic.  In  one  they  say  " that,  since 
those  icho  are  engaged  in  the  liquor  tra  ffic  have  formed  com- 
binations in  the  interests  of  this  iniquitous  iconic,  it  becomes 
the  duty  of  the  friends  of  temperance  to  lay  aside  all  secta- 
rian and  political  prejudices  and  unite  in  one  solid  compact 
by  which  they  may  counteract  the  influence  of  these  organiza- 
tions — either  by  demanding  of  existing  political  parties  fur- 
ther legislation,  or  by  constituting  a party  whose  ultimate  end 
shall  be  the  entire  proh  ibition  of  the  liquor  traffic.'" 

The  utterances  of  this  denomination  upon  the  work  of 
woman  and  her  influence,  as  well  as  upon  the  temperance 
question,  show  that  it  is  living  in  modern  times,  and  is 
full  of  energy  for  the  great  deeds  of  the  coming  years. 

THE  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH. 

This  is  one  of  the  very  youngest  of  the  denominations, 
having  been  organized  in  the  year  1858.  Her  first  General 
Assembly : 


THE  AFRICAN  M.  E.  ZION  CHURCH. 


465 


“ -Resolved,  1st,  That  the  business  of  manufacturing  and  vending 
intoxicating  liquors  for  drinking  purposes  is  injurious  to  the  best 
interests  of  society,  and  therefore  inconsistent  with  the  laws  of 
God,  which  require,  ‘Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself.’” 

In  1877,  the  General  Assembly  : 

“ Resolved , That  the  license  of  the  traffic  is  incompatible  with 
the  welfare  of  the  State ; and  that  the  State  should  seek  its  entire 
prohibition.” 

In  1885 : 

“ That  there  can  be  no  compromise  with  this  evil ; that  absolute, 

unconditional  prohibition  is the  ultimatum  which  alone 

we  are  willing  to  accept.” 

Rev.  J.  T.  McCrary  concludes  his  able  sketch  as  follows : 
"As  to  the  present  sentiment  of  the  church,  we  may  speak 
quite  definitely.  Direct  information  from  pastors  in  all 
parts  of  the  church  warrants  the  conclusion  that  the  senti- 
ment in  favor  of  total  abstinence  and  prohibition  among  the 
people  is  almost  unanimous.  Three-fourths  of  the  ministers 
heard  from  favor  the  formation  of  a Prohibition  party,  and 

act  with  the  third  party May  God  grant  that 

before  the  United  Presbyterian  Church  celebrates  her  semi- 
centennial she  may,  with  all  Christian  people  of  this  land, 
be  called  upon  to  rejoice  in  the  triumph  of  the  cause  of 
Prohibition.” 

THE  AFRICAN  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  ZION  CHURCH 

was  organized  in  1796  by  colored  Wesleyans.  Their  mem- 
bership is  at  least  300,000,  and  has  increased  with  great 
rapidity  in  the  South  since  the  abolition  of  slavery.  The 
Hon.  John  C.  Dancy  has  written  a most  interesting  account 
of  this  church  and  its  astonishing  development : 

“Rt.  Rev.  J.  W.  Hood,  one  of  the  present  Board  of  Bishops,  and 
Prof.  Jos.  C.  Price,  President  of  Zion  Wesley  College,  at  Salis- 
bury, N.  C.,  are  foremost  among  the  temperance  advocates  of 
this  country,  each  having  been  heard  on  two  continents — the  lat- 
ter being  one  of  the  most  forcible  temperance  orators  now  living. 
Bishop  Hood  was  at  one  time  Grand  Chaplain  of  the  Independent 
Order  of  Good  Templars  of  the  Right  Worthy  Grand  Lodge  of  the 
World.  — Bishop  J.  J.  Moore,  D.D.,  is  also  a member  of  the  Order 
30 


466 


TIIE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


of  Good  Templars,  having  been  initiated  by  the  Chief  Officers  of 
Great  Britain.  While  Bishops  S.  T.  Jones,  D.D.,  Thomas  H. 

Lomax,  and  J.  P.  Thompson are  none  the  less  fearless 

and  uncompromising  in  their  advocacy  of  temperance  principles. 
To  the  promotion  and  success  of  the  great  movement  they  seem  to 
have  consecrated  their  lives,  their  best  efforts,  and  the  influence 
of  their  Christian  example.  Rev.  C.  R.  Harris,  the  next  highest 
officer,  is  a Good  Templar  and  a total  abstainer,  and  works  unre- 
mittingly in  behalf  of  the  cause.  The  Star  of  Zion , the  organ  of 
the  connection,  is  dedicated  to  Temperance,  Education,  Morality, 

Industrial  Progress  and  Religion Every  member  of  the 

faculty  of  Zion  Wesley  College  is  a temperance  man,  and  every 
student  is  required  to  abstain  from  the  use  of  all  intoxicating 
beverages.” 

This  church  "has  declared  in  favor  of  total  abstinence  for 
the  individual  and  opposition  to  intemperance  on  the  part  of 
the  church.”  It  is  an  immense  power  not  alone  with  its  own 
race,  but  among  the  white  race  as  well.  No  man  ever 
addressed  white  audiences  with  greater  force  and  more  thrill- 
ing effect  than  Rev.  Dr.  Price  during  his  recent  visit  to  the 
city  of  New  York. 

THE  AFRICAN  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

was  organized  in  1816,  by  Rev.  Richard  Allen  and  Absalom 
Jones,  and  one  of  the  provisions  engrafted  on  the  constitution 
forbade  drunkenness,  and  the  drinking  of  spirituous  liquors 
unless  ordered  to  do  so  by  a physician.  " Nor  did  the  church 
veer  from  it  one  hair’s-breadth  while  the  old  hero,  Rev.  Mr. 

Allen,  lived  ; nor  has  it  veered  since No  drunkards  ! 

no  drinkers!”  In  1833,  the  Ohio  Conference  resolved,  "as 
the  sense  of  this  conference,  that  common  schools,  Sunda}'- 
schools  and  temperance  societies  are  of  the  highest  impor- 
tance to  all  people,  but  more  especially  to  us  as  a people.” 
The  Philadelphia  and  New  York  conferences  also  strongly 
endorsed  the  temperance  cause. 

Rev.  Dr.  Tanner  says  : " The  church,  in  the  fifty  years 
since  these  utterances  were  given,  has  multiplied  her  confer- 
ences by  ten  ; then  there  were  four,  now  there  are  forty-four. 
If  we.  were  to  say  that  in  intention  to  put  down  the  rum 
fiend  we,  as  a church,  have  kept  full  pace  with  our  material 
growth,  the  fact  would  not  be  too  strongly  put.  No  session 


I 


Mrs.  M.  A.  Bent, 

Cornet ist,  National  IF.  C.  T.  U. 


THE  EVANGELICAL  ASSOCIATION. 


4G7 


of  the  conference  is  now  held,  anywhere  within  our  borders, 
that  rum  ravages  upon  society,  morally  and  religiously,  so- 
cially and  civilly,  are  not  duly  and  carefully  considered. 
This  church  now  comprises  four  hundred  thousand  members, 
and  is  a mighty  force  for  good  in  our  country  and  -world.” 

THE  EVANGELICAL  ASSOCIATION 
began  with  the  century,  and  is  described  by  Rev.  G.  W.  Gross 
as  "a  child  of  Providence,  called  into  existence  by  the  Great 
Head  of  the  church  and  by  the  force  of  circumstances,”  and 
similar  in  organization  and  church  polity  to  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  " It  has  an  aggressive  spirit,  and  claims  to 
be  in  the  pioneer  corps  of  every  moral  reform.”  It  has  130,- 
000  members.  The  denomination  is  in  itself  a total-abstinence 
society,  and  is  committed  to  the  principles  of  absolute  and 
everlasting  prohibition  of  the  liquor  traffic. 

The  Pennsylvania  conference,  the  oldest  of  the  church, 
passed  the  following  resolutions  in  1835  : 

“ Whereas , King  Alcohol,  the  great  destroyer  of  our  fair  land, 
is,  notwithstanding  the  strenuous  and  multiplied  efforts  put  forth 
against  him,  constantly  enlarging  his  soul  and  body  destroying 
work;  and  whereas  his  most  loyal  subjects,  the  distillers,  brewers 
and  saloonists,  are  every  year  becoming  more  solidified  and  de- 
termined in  their  opposition  to  the  passage  of  temperance  and 
Sunday  laws;  therefore, 

“ liesolved ',  That  we  will,  more  than  ever,  devote  our  energies 
to  the  dethronement  of  this  mighty  foe.  That  for  this  purpose 
we  will  employ  all  fair  and  honorable  means  — such  as  the  dis- 
semination of  sound  temperance  literature,  the  preaching  of  total- 
abstinence  sermons,  and  the  thorough  indoctrination  of  the  youth 
in  our  Sunday-schools. 

“ liesolved,  That  we  are  in  favor  of  constitutional  prohibition. 

“ liesolved,  That  we  consider  it  a violation  of  the  spirit  of  our 
‘Discipline’ for  any  of  our  members  either  to  sign  applications 
for  liquor  license  or  to  rent  their  property  for  the  sale  of  liquors. 

“ liesolved,  That  we  consider  the  use  of  fermented  wine  in  the 
Sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  contrary  to  the  total-abstinence 
principles  of  our  cliurchT 

It  would  seem  strange  had  Christ  adopted  what  would 
be  a sin  if  it  were  not  a sacrament,  and  ordain  it  as  the 
great  institution  by  which  to  be  remembered  himself! 


408 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


Mr.  Gross  says  : " Many,  if  not  most,  of  the  more  active, 
enthusiastic  temperance  workers  give  great  prominence  to 
the  legislative  and  political  phases  of  the  question,  and  be- 
lieve that  license,  high  or  low,  can  not  be  encouraged  on 
any  moral  pretext  of  reaching  the  evil ; but  believe  in  the 
inherent  wrongfulness  of  all  liquor  manufacturing  and  vend- 
ing for  drinking  purposes,  and  do  in  no  way  sanction  or 
countenance  the  part  taken  in  the  traffic  by  local,  State  or 
national  authority.” 

This  association  is  not  one  of  the  larger  denominations, 
but  it  is  of  the  kind  of  whom  one  member  will  chase  a thou- 
sand and  two  put  ten  thousand  to  flight. 


THE  REFORMED  PRESBYTERIAN  CIIURCH. 

This  church  is  the  lineal  descendent  of  the  Covenanters  of 
Scotland,  so  it  is  claimed  by  the  Rev.  T.  P.  Stevenson,  who 
furnishes  a brief  but  most  interesting  sketch.  Eirrh  tv-two 
years  since,  "her  supreme  court  decided  that  slaveholding 
was  a crime,  and  appointed  a commission  to  give  effect  to  this 

decision  in  her  congregations  in  the  Southern  States 

and  all  her  members  who  had  acquired  property  in  slaves  set 
them  at  liberty  at  this  behest.  In  something  the  same 
spirit  she  has  dealt  with  intemperance.”  All  through  her 
history  she  has  been  clear,  and  radically  opposed  to  this  sin. 
In  the  year  1885,  the  synod  declared  that  the  temperance  issue 
has  come  to  the  hour  for  its  final  decisive  struggle,  " when  the 
facts  are  fully  known  ; when  all  expedients  have  utterly  failed  ; 
and  when  enlightened  and  matured  public  sentiment  seeks 
to  crystallize  in  the  form  of  law,  for  the  absolute  ancl  com- 
plete suppression  of  the  evil.”  In  such  conflicts  "the  church 
is  not  a mere  pulsometer,  to  measure  moral  forces : she  is  a 
living  organism  to  originate  and  sustain  them.  The  fact  that 
a question  has  assumed  a political  and  legislative  aspect  does 
not  carry  it  out  of  the  sphere  of  the  church's  action.  The 
theory  that,  as  soon  as  a moral  issue  becomes  a political  one, 
the  church  has  nothing  more  to  do  with  it,  is  political  athe- 
ism. It  is  the  theory  that  God  and  his  law  have  no  relation 
to  the  State.  This  is  the  hour  of  the  church’s  high  oppor- 
tunity and  grave  responsibility.  The  Christian  ministry 
and  the  religious  press  can  not  keep  silent  on  a false  plea  of 


THE  METHODIST  CHURCH  SOUTH. 


469 


non-partisanship  while  Christian  men  administer  wicked 
license  laivs  and  sustain  parties  that  are  in  alliance  with  the 
liquor  traffic .” 

The  'whole  license  system  is  denounced  as  "wrong  in  prin- 
ciple and  most  pernicious  in  practice,  involving  the  nation  in 
the  guilt  and  shame  of  the  liquor  traffic,  to  which  it  gives  its 
consent ; as  ineffectual  for  the  restraint  or  suppression  of  the 
evil,  and  an  utter  violation  of  the  high  trust  God  has  com- 
mitted to  civil  government  as  His  ordinance”;  and  they 
recommend  all  the  women  of  the  church  to  " co-operate  with 
the  Woman’s  Christian  Temperance  Union  in  its  noble  work 
of  faith  and  labor  of  love.”  In  short,  I have  read  nothing 
in  the  declarations  of  any  denomination  written  with  more 
absolute  disregard  of  the  tenderest  sensibilities  of  those 

O 

engaged  in  the  prosecution  or  in  the  fn’pocritical  encourage- 
ment of  the  liquor  traffic,  than  the  utterances  of  these  modern 
Scotch  Covenanters. 

THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH  SOUTH. 

The  declarations  of  the  great  Southern  branch  of  the 
Methodist  Church  have  always  been  very  clear  and  emphatic 
in  denunciation  of  indulgence  in  intoxicating  drinks,  and  in 
the  inculcation  of  total  abstinence  from  the  use  and  participa- 
tion in  the  manufacture  or  sale  by  its  preachers  and  members. 
The  temperance  sentiment  is  "intense.”  "The  Southern 
Methodist  Church  is  realty  an  immense  prohibition  society.” 

" In  the  last  few  y ears  our  people  have  come  to  believe 
that  the  evils  "rowing  out  of  the  manufacture,  sale  and 
drinking  of  intoxicating  liquors  are  of  such  dimensions  and 
significance  that  specific  action  and  laws  are  demanded  with 
reference  to  them.  The  church  has  come  to  consider  intem- 
perance the  greatest  evil  of  the  times  — the  source  and  cause 
of  well  nigh  all  the  other  evils  which  affect  society  and 
impede  the  progress  of  church  ’work.” 

In  1882,  the  North  Georgia  annual  conference  adopted  a 
report  of  Dr.  A.  G.  Haj'good,  unanimously,  in  which  they 
declare,  among  other  things,  "that  it  is  now  understood  by 
all  informed  persons  that  the  great  majority  of  crimes  have 
their  genesis  in  drunkenness,  and  that  nearly  all  crimes  of 
violence  are  traceable  to  this  source.  Our  jails  and  peniten- 


470 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


tiaries  are  filled  from  the  bar-rooms  and  other  places  where 
intoxicating  liquors  are  sold By  every  token  it  ap- 

pears to  your  committee  that  it  is  the  duty  of  all  good  men  to 
unite  in  all  wise  and  practicable  methods  for  the  suppression 
of  the  traffic.  They  also  rejoice  in  the  obviously  growing 
sentiment  in  favor  of  the  prohibition  of  the  traffic  that  has 
wrought  so  much  evil  in  the  world.’  In  the  year  1883  the 
conference  denounces  the  traffic,  and  "thanks  God”  for 
encouraging  indications  : " local  prohibition  is  sweeping  over 
Georgia,”  etc.  In  1884,  the  same  conference  resolves 
"that  we  regard  prohibition  the  only  rational  and  practical 
solution  of  the  liquor  problem.  2.  That  we  will  use  our 
influence  to  create,  organize  and  intensify  prohibition  sen- 
timent  4.  That  we  will  endeavor  to  have  all  pro- 

hibitory laws  in  the  different  counties  of  the  State  enforced.” 

The  status  of  the  whole  forty  conferences  is  indicated  by 
the  sentiments  of  the  one  from  whose  declarations  these  quo- 
tations are  made  : 

" The  Southern  Methodist  Church  is  a unit  in  its  opinion  on 
this  subject.  Our  people  throughout  the  church  have  reached 
the  deliberate  conclusion  that  prohibition  is  the  only  feasible 
solution  of  the  liquor  problem,  and  they  do  not  propose  to 
cease  their  efforts  until  the  Avhole  South  is  solid  on  this  line.” 

As  a Northern  man,  I beg  our  Southern  friends  to  enlarge 
their  sphere  of  action,  to  take  in  the  North  also,  and  continue 
their  efforts  until  both  North  and  South  are  solid  on  the 
same  line  of  prohibition  — even  national  prohibition.  " Come 
over  into  Macedonia  and  help  us!”  I get  this  information 
from  Rev.  J.  W.  Lee’s  most  excellent  sketch  in  "One  Hun- 
dred Years  of  Temperance,”  and  feel  that  the  following 
quotation  should  also  be  given,  for  the  benefit  of — every- 
body. He  says:  "Prohibition,  as  it  presents  itself  to  the 
minds  of  our  people,  is  not  so  complex  and  delicate  a ques- 
tion as  it  appears  to  be  in  many  of  the  Northern  States. 
We  think  this  is  due  to  the  fact  that,  with  us,  prohibition 
has  not  become  entangled  with  party  issues  nor  blended 
with  political  measures  and  promises.  We  have  not  per- 
mitted the  politicians  to  complicate  it  with  Democrac}r  or 

Republicanism,  or  with  the  measures  of  any  party 

It  is  a pity  that  anywhere  this,  the  most  important,  of  moral 


THE  PROTESTANT  CHURCH  UNANIMOUS. 


471 


and  social  questions,  should  be  tacked  on  to  a political  party. 
....  It  is  the  earnest  conviction  of  the  Southern  Method- 
ist Church,  then,  that  this  question  must  be  settled  outside 
of  political  parties.”  He  cites  the  result  in  Atlanta  as  an 
example  of  non-partisan  success  for  prohibition. 

It  will  be  fortunate  indeed  when  the  prohibition  sentiment 
is  so  strong  that  all  parties  compete  for  the  first  opportunity 
to  deposit  their  votes  for  prohibition.  But  in  some  parts  of 
the  country  no  party  will  adopt  prohibition  ; on  the  contrary, 
all  parties  strive  to  exclude  it  from  the  sphere  of  political 
action,  which  may  be  very  different  from  partisan  action. 

The  body-politic  must  act,  or  there  can  be  no  law.  If 
there  be  strong  opposition,  there  will  be  parties.  So  far,  at 
the  North,  the  temperance  issue  has  been  in  search  of  a large 
party  for  its  father.  Sometimes,  generally,  the  Republican 
party  has  been  kindly  disposed,  but,  at  best,  prohibition  has 
been  much  out  in  the  cold. 

Prohibition  will  have  ample  accommodations,  with  all  the 
modern  improvements,  in  this  country  yet.  If  neither  of 
the  old  parties  will  take  her  in,  and  treat  her  as  one  of  the 
family,  she  will  build  a house  to  suit  herself.  In  fact,  she 
has  already  put  up  one  wing  of  a building,  with  the  largest 
plan,  out  of  material  obtained  by  tearing  down  portions  of 
the  houses  whose  occupants  exclude  her.  The  end  is  not  yet. 
That  party  is  wise  which  first  gives  her  a permanent  home. 

Mr.  Lee  concludes  thus  : " We  think  it  about  time  for  the 
people  of  these  United  States  to  know  that  they  have  the 
power  to  rid  themselves  of  the  evil  of  intemperance.  And 
as  long  as  the}'  have  this  power,  and  do  not  use  it,  they  are 
responsible  for  the  drunkenness,  and  the  crimes  growing  out 
of  drunkenness,  which  disgrace  us.” 

"And  Nathan  said  unto  David,  ' Thou  art  the  man  ! ’ ” 


I have  now  stated  the  position  of  all  the  leading  Protestant 
denominations  of  our  country  upon  the  temperance  question. 
That  position  is  almost  unanimous  for  total  abstinence  of  the 
individual  and  total  prohibition  by  the  law  of  the  land. 
Here,  then,  is  the  solid  Protestant  church  against  the  liquor 
traffic  — thirsting  for  its  destruction,  and  killing  it. 

Why  is  this? 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH. 


Important  Factor,  Seven  Million  American  Adherents  — American 
Catholic  Total  Abstinence  Union — Leo  XIII. ’s  Letter  to  Bishop 
Ireland,  1887  — Baltimore  Council ; Cardinal  Gibbons  — Murray’s 
“Catechism  of  Intemperance”  — Catholic  Total  Abstinence  Union 
Established  1872  — Father  Cleary  at  the  Philadelphia  Temperance 
Centennial  — Powderly,  Archbishop  Ryan,  Bishop  Ireland;  Father 
Mathew,  Cardinal  Manning,  and  Father  Xugent — Catholic  Temper- 
ance Magazine  1887  : “The  Loss  of  our  Children” — Catholics  in 
Labor  Organizations  — Father  Conaty’s  Two  Addresses  — “Total 
Abstinence  Organized  on  Catholic  Principles  ” — The  Catholic  Church 
and  her  followers  will  eventually  demand  Prohibition. 


DEVOTE  all  the  space  possible  to  this  sketch  of  the 


1 Catholic  Church,  because  of  the  great  population  in  our 
own  and  in  other  countries  who  are  embraced  within  its  in- 
fluence ; nor  do  I think  the  advanced  ground  it  now  occupies 
as  a temperance  body  is  generally  understood.  I may  be 
pardoned  for  adding  that  I also  cherish  the  hope  that  more 
knowledge  will  lessen  prejudice,  promote  harmony,  and  lead 
to  co-operative  action  among  religious  bodies,  against  an  evil 
which  threatens  all. 

The  Christian  population  of  the  world  is  thus  stated  by 
Mr.  Spofford,  in  the  American  Almanac  for  1886  — it  being 
an  estimate  from  Schem's  statistics  of  the  world : 


Roman  Catholics,  . 
Protestants,  . . . 

Eastern  Churches,  . 


201,000,000 

106,000,000 

81,000,000 


Total, 


3SS,000,000 


There  are  in  the  United  States  7,000,000  adherents  of  th 
Catholic  faith  (as  stated  in  the  Catholic  Directory,  1883), 
out  of  a total  population  of  about  60,000,000.  The  tem- 
perance movement  is  probably  more  important  to  the  welfare 
of  the  Catholic  population  of  this  country  than  to  any  other 
equal  number  of  our  people  ; while  the  relation  of  the  church 


472 


POPE  LEO  Xiri.  S LETTER. 


473 


to  that  movement,  in  the  world  at  large,  is  one  of  the  chief 
factors  which  must  determine  the  future  of  the  race. 

I have,  therefore,  felt  peculiar  anxiety,  in  the  preparation 
of  this  book,  to  secure  authentic  information  and  to  state 
fairly  the  Catholic  position  in  this  great  struggle  with  the 
foes  of  a common  Christianity  and  civilization.  Addressing 
Cardinal  Gibbons  upon  the  subject,  that  eminent  prelate  and 
most  courteous  gentleman  referred  mj-  request  to  Rev.  Father 
Mahony  of  St.  Paul,  to  whom  I am  under  special  obligation 
for  documents  and  references,  from  which  much  of  this  mat- 
ter in  regard  to  the  Catholic  Church  is  obtained. 

O 

The  Pope  is,  in  an  important  sense,  the  church ; or,  as  the 
Catholic  Temperance  Magazine  of  May,  1887,  expresses  the 
idea,  " Without  the  approval  of  Rome  and  the  blessing  of 
God’s  Vicar  on  earth,  no  Catholic  cause  can  succeed.  Every 
Catholic  knows  this,  and  it  is  thus  his  first  anxiety  to  secure, 
in  some  form  or  other,  the  encouragement  of  the  Holy  Father 
for  every  good  work  in  which  he  is  interested.”  From  the 
same  number  of  the  magazine,  I take  the  following  letter  from 
Pope  Leo  XIII.,  in  which  he  expresses  his  approval  of  the 
cause  of  temperance,  and  of  the  American  Catholic  Total 
Abstinence  Union,  with  a completeness  and  power  which 
even  from  a layman  of  the  church  should  exert  a wide-spread 
influence.  I am  sure  that  it  must  excite  the  gratitude  and 
admiration  of  every  lover  of  the  cause  of  temperance  to 
read  this  authoritative  expression  from  the  Pope  in  favor  of 
the  temperance  work.  The  letter  is  addressed  to  Bishop 
Ireland,  the  Father  Mathew  of  our  time ; who,  in  securing 
this  important  temperance  paper  alone,  has  rendered  a 
greater  service  to  the  cause  than  could  have  been  rendered 
by  many  a long  life  devoted  to  its  promotion. 

The  following  is  a translation  of  the  Pope’s  letter : 

“ To  Our  Venerable  Brother  John  Ireland,  Bishop  of  St.  Paul,  Minn.-, 
Leo  XIII.,  Pope. 

“Venerable  Brother,  Health  and  Apostolic  Benediction. 

“The  admirable  works  of  piety  and  charity  by  which  our  faith- 
ful children  in  the  United  States  labor  to  promote,  not  only  their 
own  temporal  and  eternal  welfare,  but  also  that  of  their  fellow- 
citizens,  and  which  you  have  recently  related  to  us,  give  to  us 
exceeding  great  consolation.  And,  above  all,  we  have  rejoiced  to 


474 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


learn  with  what  energy  and  zeal,  by  means  of  various  excellent 
associations,  and  especially  through  the  Catholic  Total  Abstinence 
Union,  you  combat  the  destructive  vice  of  intemperance.  For  it 
is  well  known  to  us  how  ruinous,  how  deplorable,  is  the  injury, 
both  to  faith  and  to  morals,  that  is  to  be  feared  from  intemperance 
in  drink.  Nor  can  we  sufficiently  praise  the  prelates  of  the 
United  States,  who  recently,  in  the  Plenary  Council  of  Balti- 
more, with  weightiest  words,  condemned  this  abuse  ; declaring  it 
to  be  a perpetual  incentive  to  sin,  and  a fruitful  root  of  all  evils, 
plunging  the  families  of  the  intemperate  into  direst  ruin,  and 
drawing  numberless  souls  down  to  everlasting  perdition;  declar- 
ing, morever,  that  the  faithful  who  yield  to  this  vice  of  intemper- 
ance become  thereby  a scandal  to  non-Catholics,  and  a great  hin- 
drance to  the  propagation  of  the  true  religion. 

“Hence,  we  esteem  worthy  of  commendation  the  noble  resolve 
of  our  pious  associations,  by  which  they  jiledge  themselves  to 
abstain  totally  from  every  kind  of  intoxicating  drink.  Nor  can  it 
at  all  be  doubted  that  this  determination  is  the  proper  and  the 
truly  efficacious  remedy  for  this  very  great  evil  ; and  that  so  much 
the  more  strongly  will  all  be  induced  to  put  this  bridle  upon  appe- 
tite, by  how  much  the  greater  are  the  dignity  and  influence  of 
those  who  give  the  example.  But  greatest  of  all  in  this  matter 
should  be  the  zeal  of  priests,  who,  as  they  are  called  to  instruct 
the  people  in  the  word  of  life,  and  to  mould  them  to  Christian 
morality,  should  also,  and  above  all,  walk  before  them  in  the  prac- 
tice of  virtue.  Let  pastors,  therefore,  do  their  best  to  drive  the 
plague  of  intemperance  from  the  fold  of  Christ,  by  assiduous 
preaching  and  exhortation,  and  to  shine  before  all  as  models  of 
abstinence,  and  so  the  many  calamities  with  which  this  vice 
threatens  both  church  and  State  may,  by  their  strenuous  en- 
deavors, be  averted. 

“And  we  most  earnestly  beseech  Almighty  God  that,  in  this  im- 
portant matter,  He  may  graciously  favor  your  desires,  direct  your 
counsels,  and  assist  your  endeavors ; and,  as  a pledge  of  the 
divine  protection  and  a testimony  of  our  paternal  affection,  we 
most  lovingly  bestow  upon  you,  venerable  brother,  and  upon  all 
your  associates  in  this  holy  league,  the  Apostolic  Benediction. 

“ Given  at  Rome,  from  St.  Peter’s,  this  27th  day  of  March,  in  the 
year  1887,  the  tenth  year  of  our  pontificate. 

“Leo  XIII.,  Pope.” 

To  show  the  energetic  interest  of  those  directly  in  charge 
of  the  Catholic  polity  in  the  United  States,  in  the  temper- 
ance reform,  I quote  from  the  declaration  of  the  council  of 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  BALTIMORE. 


475 


Baltimore,  the  home  of  Cardinal  Gibbons,  and  which  may 
be  accepted  as  representing  truly  his  views  and  policy  at  the 
present  time  : 

“ Keep  away  from  drinking-places  Saturday  nights,  and  carry 
your  wages  home  to  your  families,  where  the  wages  rightfully 
belong. 

“The  most  shocking  scandals  we  have  to  deplore  spring  from 
intemperance. 

“We  invoke  a blessing  on  the  cause  of  temperance  and  on 
all  who  are  laboring  for  its  advancement  in  a true  Christian 
spirit. 

“Let  the  exertions  of  Catholic  temperance  societies  meet  with 
the  hearty  co-operation  of  pastor  and  people,  and  they  will  go  far 
towards  strangling  the  monstrous  evil  of  intemperance.  Pastoral 
Letter,  Acta,  p.  xciii.  The  misuse  of  intoxicating  drinks  is  cer- 
tainly one  of  the  most  deplorable  evils  of  our  age  and  country. 
Intemperance  is  a constant  source  of  sin  and  a copious  fountain 
of  misery.  It  has  brought  to  utter  ruin  countless  multitudes  and 
entire  families,  and  has  precipitated  into  eternal  perdition  very 
many  souls.  All  should,  therefore,  be  exhorted,  by  the  love  of 
God  and  country,  to  bend  every  energy  to  the  extirpation  of  this 
baleful  evil.  To  the  clergy,  to  whom  God  has  given  the  office  of 
breaking  unto  men  the  Bread  of  Life  and  training  them  in  Chris- 
tian morality,  we  chiefly  look  for  helpers  in  this  great  work.  Let 
them  never  cease  to  raise  their  voices  against  drunkenness  and 
the  causes  and  occasions  of  it,  especially  in  giving  spiritual  mis- 
sions to  the  people. 

“ We  approve  as  highly  commendable,  in  our  times,  the  prac- 
tice of  those  who  abstain  entirely  from  the  use  of  intoxicating 
liquors.  We  also  recognize  as  worthy  of  great  praise  the  Catho- 
lic Total  Abstinence  Union  and  the  confraternity  of  ‘The  Sacred 
Thirst,’  laboring  as  they  are,  by  prayer  and  good  works,  for  the 
promotion  of  temperance,  and  relying  as  they  do  more  on  the 
grace  of  God,  the  efficacy  of  prayer  and  the  sacraments,  than  on 
the  strength  of  the  human  will  alone.  We  commend  these  asso- 
ciations,  enjoying  as  they  do  the  blessing  of  the  Holy  Father,  to 
the  paternal  care  of  the  clergy,  so  that  they  may  flourish  more 
and  more,  and  always  adhere  to  the  truly  Catholic  methods  they 
now  follow.” 

As  an  illustration  of  the  teachings  of  the  church  to 
children,  I quote  from  the  " small  catechism  of  intemper- 
ance,” by  Dr.  John  O'Kane  Murray. 


476 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


“What,  in  brief,  is  the  effect  of  intemperance  on  the  mind? 

“Intemperance  gradually  ruins  the  mind.  It  damages  the 
whole  nervous  system.  It  is  one  of  the  chief  causes  of  idiocy, 
insanity,  epilepsy,  paralysis,  sleeplessness,  and  other  diseases  of  the 
mind  and  nervous  system. 

“ What  is  the  effect  of  intemperance  on  the  moral  nature  of  man  ? 

“ Intemperance  destroys  morality.  It  weakens  will  power. 
Reason  soon  ceases  to  rule.  Character  vanishes.  The  abuse  of 
alcohol  over-stimulates  the  feelings,  emotions,  and  baser  passions  ; 
and  thus  opens  the  door  to  vice,  crime,  and  every  kind  of  tempta- 
tion. It  leads  to  idleness,  impurity,  profanity,  scandal,  quarrel- 
ling, gambling,  irreligion,  blasphemy,  murder,  suicide,  and  other 
crimes,  nameless  and  numberless.  It  is  stated  that  seven-tenths  of 
all  the  crimes  committed  in  New  York  City  in  the  year  1882 
came  from  drinking,  and  about  four-fifths  of  all  crimes  of 
violence  had  their  origin  in  intemperance. 

“ What  terrible  conclusions  must  be  drawn  from  the  foregoing 
statement  ? 

“ That  so  long  as  a man  or  a woman  is  intemj)erate,  reforma- 
tion of  character  is  impossible. 

“Mention  some  of  the  evil  effects  of  intemperance  on  the 
human  body? 

“ Intemperance  strikes  at  the  very  root  of  good  health.  It  soon 
gives  the  countenance  a bloated,  brutal  aspect.  It  leads  to 
chronic  diseases  of  the  heart,  stomach,  liver,  eyes,  arteries,  lungs, 
bladder  and  kidneys.  ‘ The  nervous  tissues,’  says  a late 
scientific  writer,  ‘are  perhaps  the  first  to  suffer;  and  the  shaking 
hand  and  tottering  gait  are  infallibly  followed  by  a similar  totter- 
ing of  the  intellectual  and  moral  faculties.  The  stomach  resents 
the  constant  introduction  of  ardent  spirits,  and  soon  refuses 
properly  to  digest  food.  The  liver  and  kidneys  give  out  in  a 
similar  way,  and  the  impairment  of  their  functions  causes 
terrible  dropsy.  The  heart  gets  fatty  and  weak,  the  lungs  lose 
their  fresh  elasticity,  and  soon  there  is  not  a tissue  in  the  body 
which  has  not,  in  one  way  or  another,  succumbed  to  the  ill- 
treatment  to  which  it  has  been  subjected.’ 

“Intemperance,  then,  must  greatly  shorten  life? 

“ Certainly  it  does.  It  brings  death  long  before  old  age.  The 
habitual  drinker  must  decay  prematurely.  This  is  a just  and 
solemn  law,  that  cannot  be  repealed  by  any  corrupt  Legislature. 
Often  death  comes  with  the  awful  rapidity  of  a lightning  flash, 
and  the  red  nose  and  fiery  face  of  the  wretched  toper  disappear 
forever  from  the  busy  scenes  of  this  world.  No  man  can  live 
drunk  and  live  long. 


James , Cardinal  Gibbons. 

By  permission  of  Back-rack  Bro.,  Baltimore. 


THE  CATHOLIC  TOTAL  ABSTINENCE  UNION. 


477 


“What  is  the  effect  of  intemperance  on  society? 

“It  has  filled  the  world  with  misery  and  scandal.  It  arrests 
the  progress  of  religion  and  civilization.  It  fosters  every  kind  of 
immorality.  The  millions  spent  on  liquors  are  lost.  Sober 
people  are  burdened  with  countless  paupers  and  orphans.  Two- 
thirds  of  the  poor  children  in  asylums  are  the  offspring  of 
drunken  parents.  The  jails,  almshouses,  and  penitentiaries  are 
chiefly  filled  by  those  who  have  fallen  victims  to  intemperance. 
The  crime-stained  wretch  at  the  gallows  commonly  warns  his 
hearers  that  rum  brought  him  to  such  an  elevation  ; and  amongst 
the  countless  woes  of  the  world,  there  are  few  indeed  that 
can  not  be  traced  to  intemperance. 

“What  is  the  chief  cure  for  intemperance  and  its  awful  effects? 

“ Total  abstinence  from  all  intoxicating  drinks.  The  vast 
majority  of  mankind  can  not  use  such  drink  in  4 moderation.’ 
Even  in  the  hands  of  the  wise  and  strong,  alcohol  is  a dangerous 
instrument;  but  in  the  hands  of  the  weak  and  foolish,  it  is  a 
murderous,  two-edged  weapon.  The  drunkard  must  be  a failure 
in  this  world  ; and,  according  to  St.  Paul,  he  has  little  to  hope  in 
the  next.” 

The  Catholic  Total  Abstinence  Union  of  America  was 
established  in  1872  by  delegates  from  the  various  total 
abstinence  societies  and  State  unions  assembled  in  Balti- 
more. One  of  their  resolutions  was  as  follows  : 

“ Tesolved,  That  this  convention,  though  not  deeming  it  expedi- 
ent to  take  part  in  any  political  or  legislative  action  in  reference  to 
prohibitory  liquor  laws,  recognizes,  however,  the  great  good  that 
would  accrue  from  the  suppression  of  public  drinking-places,  and 
from  such  legislation  as  would  restrain  the  manufacture  of  intoxi- 
cating liquors  within  bounds  consistent  with  public  morality,  and 
will  gladly  hail  such  legislation  whenever  the  proper  authorities 
may  grant  it.” 

The  caution  exercised  in  avoiding  open  political  demon- 
stration would  hardly  permit  the  Union  to  go  further  in 
approval  of  prohibitory  laws  at  that  time  — nor  indeed  is 
there  occasion  to  do  so,  since  this  is  sufficiently  emphatic, 
and  whatever  is  lacking  in  this  resolution  — if  anything  — 
is  more  than  supplied  by  the  Pope’s  letter  cited  at  the 
beginning  of  this  chapter.  Not  that  his  letter  refers  to 
political  action  any  more  than  do  the  general  teachings  of  the 
Christian  religion  — but  it  is  evident  that  no  Catholic,  after 


478 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


reading  this  strong  letter  from  the  head  of  his  church,  can 
doubt  that  the  cause  of  temperance,  and  its  promotion  by 
every  form  of  action,  now  has  that  "approval  of  Rome  and 
blessing  of  God’s  Vicar  upon  earth”  without  which  "no 
Catholic  cause  can  succeed.”  Of  late  the  Union  has  in- 
creased in  zeal  and  numbers  with  astonishing  rapidity, 
and,  by  the  aid  of  an  active  literary  propaganda,  a 
Catholic  temperance  literature,  in  the  form  of  books  and 
pamphlets,  etc.,  is  being  created,  and  the  church  press  is 
devoting  much  attention  to  the  cause.  Father  Elliott  has 
written  a memorial,  which  was  revised  by  Bishop  Ireland, 
and  laid  before  the  Council  of  Baltimore,  which  is  said,  "for 
vigorous  language  and  plain  presentation  of  the  evils  of 
liquor-selling,  never  to  have  been  surpassed  in  the  literary 
annals  of  America.” 

I have  already  quoted  from  the  declaration  of  the  council 
and  the  full  letter  of  the  Pope. 

Father  Cleary  was  a delegate  from  the  C.  T.  A.  Union  of 
America  to  the  Centennial  Temperance  Conference  held  at 
Philadelphia,  September,  1885.  In  his  address  to  the  con- 
ference he  stated  : 

“Our  Catholic  Total  Abstinence  Union  of  America  comprises 
over  40,000  pledged  total  abstainers,  and,  of  these  40,000,  I think 
I am  within  the  lines  when  I say  that  at  least  89,999  are  sworn 

enemies  of  alcohol  until  they  go  down  to  their  graves 

The  object  we  have  in  view  is  to  make  our  people  the  sworn  ene- 
mies of  alcohol.  We  believe  in  supporting  every  just  measure 
that  may  be  brought  about  by  statutory  enactment  for  the  assist- 
ance of  our  cause And  we  believe  that  as  long  as  the 

saloon  dares  with  brazen  effrontery  to  demoralize  our  politics, 
that  the  church,  w7ith  uprightness,  with  a clear  and  serene  counte- 
nance, should  enter  the  political  arena  to  purify  it.” — (“One 
Hundred  Years  Temperance,”  pp.  54,  55.) 

From  the  current  press  I gather  the  following : At  the 
last  (the  seventeenth)  annual  meeting  of  the  C.  T.  A.  Union, 
held  in  Philadelphia,  Mr.  Powderly  was  present  and  made 
able  speeches.  Archbishop  Ryan  of  Philadelphia  gave  the 
cause  of  temperance  hearty  indorsement  by  administering 
the  communion  and  by  a very  pointed  speech  in  the  Academy 
of  Music.  Father  Cleary,  now  president  of  the  Union, 


bishop  Ireland's  speeches. 


479 


made  the  leading  speech  of  the  occasion,  and,  among  other 
things,  said  : 

“ There  never  was  a time  in  the  history  of  our  country  when 
it  was  more  important  that  our  Catholic  people  make  no  mistake 
in  the  discussion  of  the  great  social  problem  agitating  the  public 
mind.  The  rights  and  proper  privileges  of  the  honest  laboring 
man  are  in  danger,  more,  however,  from  the  intrigues  of  the 
liquor-seller  than  from  the  encroachments  of  capital.  " It  is  a well 
recognized  fact  that  the  wide-spread  evil  of  patronizing  the  saloon 
has  much  to  do  with  delaying  a settlement  of  the  labor  difficulties, 
as  also  of  multiplying  their  number.  If  the  giant  curse  of  drink 
were  removed,  the  way  would  be  easy  and  plain  to  a solution  of 
the  labor  problem.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  the  leader 
of  the  laboring  men  declares  he  would  prefer  a following  of  100,- 

000  total  abstainers  to  12,000,000  moderate  drinkers,  patrons  of 
the  liquor  saloon.  The  laboring  man  will  never  secure  the  rights 
and  privileges  due  to  honest  labor  so  long  as  the  saloon  receives 
a large  share  of  his  earnings.  The  most  prudent  economy  can 
suggest  no  more  reliable  safeguard  against  foolish  and  sinful  ex- 
travagance than  a total  abstinence  society.  It  is  the  most  practi- 
cal kind  of  an  anti-poverty  society.” 

Bishop  Ireland  has  delivered  many  of  the  most  powerful 
speeches  for  the  cause  of  temperance  ever  spoken  by  man. 

1 can  find  space  for  but  a part  of  his  address  in  St.  Paul 
Cathedral,  August  2,  1882  : 

“ Intemperance , an  evil  most  heinous  before  God , most  dreadful 
in  its  results , has  grown  among  us  to  gigantic  proportions.  Into 
countless  homes  it  shoots  its  venom-laden  fangs , and  annually , 
aye  daily , it  gathers  into  its  deadly  coils  whole  hecatombs  of  vic- 
tims. Its  presence  is  felt  through  the  entire  land , and  everywhere 
it  revels  with  demoniac  nature  in  sin  and  misery. 

“Intemperance,  of  course,  is  not  of  recent  date  in  the  world. 
The  frequency  and  virulence,  however,  of  the  evil,  which  alarms 
us  so  much  to-day,  are  traits  peculiar  to  our  own  times.  The 
populations  of  the  northern  countries  of  Europe  and  of  America 
in  a special  manner  suffer  from  its  ravages.  A most  unnatural 
thirst  for  alcohol,  as  the  intoxicating  fluid  is  called,  devours 
them 

“ The  thesis  is  maintained  by  most  able  physicians  that  alcohol 
is  no  food,  producing  neither  heat  nor  strength;  that  it  is  no 
stimulant,  increasing  the  healthy  activity  of  any  organ  of  the  body , 
although  it  may  allow  of  a disorderly  action 


480 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


“ In  the  United  States , the  cost  of  alcoholic  liquors  to  the  con- 
sumers, in  one  year , has  been  $750,000,000,  or  an  average  of  over 
$15  to  every  man , woman  and  child  in  the  country.  In  Great 
Britain,  the  cost  in  one  year  lias  been  £142,000,000,  or  8710,000,000 
— an  average  of  over  820  to  every  person  of  the  population.  It 
is  difficult  for  the  mind,  without  some  terms  of  comparison,  to 
comprehend  these  figures.  The  sum  spent  in  four  years  for  alco- 
holic drinks  in  Great  Britain  would  purchase  all  the  railroads  in 
the  country ; and  the  sum  spent  in  six  years  would  pay  off  the 
national  debt.  The  aggregate  of  wages  paid  by  all  the  manufac- 
turing establishments  in  America  during  the  year  1869  was  only 
8775,584,000  — a sum  but  slightly  in  excess  of  the  drinlc-bill  for 
the  same  year.  The  total  value  of  all  church  property  in  the 
country  in  1870  was  8354,483,000.  Six  months’  abstinence  from 
drink  would  buy  it  out 

“But  what  of  the  efficacy  of  total  abstinence  as  a remedy  for 
the  prevailing  intemperance?  The  tens  of  thousands  whom  you 
lead  to  the  practice  of  total  abstinence  are  saved.  A total-absti- 
nence society  is  the  harbor : within , the  winds  are  still,  the  sea  is 
calm ; outside,  the  billows  roar,  and  the  rocks  and  shoals  lie  in 
wait.  Outside  the  harbor  many  escape  shipwreck  ; but  many  too 
sink  low  and  deep.  All  who  are  within  have  reason  to  rejoice. 
In  the  name  of  their  most  precious  interests,  invite  those  who  are 
without  to  enter  with  you.  They  have  perhaps  already  suffered 
from  the  storm,  or,  maybe,  they  are  as  yet  unscathed.  In  either 
case,  far  better  for  them  the  harbor.  The  circumstances  of  the 
present  time,  we  must  ever  remember,  are  peculiar.  Society  is 
honeycombed  with  temptations  to  drink  ; the  stoutest  and  bravest 
are  daily  falling  victims.  Who,  you  can  ask,  is  sure  in  advance 
of  victory?  To  Irishmen  particularly,  because  of  their  compara- 
tive native  powerlessness  to  resist  alcohol,  because  of  the  fatal 
habits  in  which  past  traditions  have  wrapped  them,  because  their 
welfare  is  near  to  my  heart,  I will  never  cease  pointing  out , with 
an  undeviating  finger,  the  harbor  of  peace  and  of  security  — total 
abstinence.  Believe  not  that  it  is  a difficult  task  to  lead  men  to 
total  abstinence.  Your  records  tell  a different  story.  Counting 
all  Catholic  total-abstinence  societies  in  America , whether  con- 
nected with  the  Union  or  not , xoe  have  100,000  total  abstainers. 
Is  this  a small  number,  when  we  know  that  not  very  earnest,  per- 
sistent effort  has  been  made  so  far  ? Remember  the  magnificent 
success  of  Father  Mathew!  See  what  Cardinal  Manning  and 
Father  Nugent  have  done  in  England!  .... 

“To  the  priests  of  the  church  who  labor  to  further  the  cause  of 
total  abstinence,  I offer  in  a special  manner  my  congratulations 


THE  CATHOLIC  TEMPERANCE  MAGAZINE. 


481 


and  my  thanks.  With  them  pre-eminently  vests  the  future  of 
their  people.  Their  earnest  co-operation  is  all  that  is  needed  to 
insure  the  success  of  the  total-abstinence  movement 

“May  Heaven,  my  brethren,  pour  down  its  richest  blessing 
upon  your  Union,  and  continuously  add  to  its  peaceful  and  glorious 
triumphs.” 

The  destructive  effect  of  intemperance  upon  moral  conduct 
and  religious  faith  is  quite  as  apparent  among  Protestants  as 
it  is  shown  to  be  by  the  following  matter,  taken  from  the 
Catholic  Temperance  Magazine  of  February,  1887,  in  the 
Catholic  Church. 

This  Moloch  lives  on  children.  It  would  be  far  better  to 
throw  them  into  the  Thames,  the  Hudson  and  the  Mississippi. 
The  heathen  mother  needs  no  advice  from  sanctimonious, 
mercenary,  drunken  nations  who  give  their  own  children  to 
the  fire. 

If  Christianity  were  no  better  than  Christian  nations,  our 
missionaries  would  deserve  to  be  mobbed  out  of  every  pagan 
country.  It  is  strange  — miraculous  — that  they  have  accom- 
plished so  much,  while  national  policy  and  the  practices  of 
trade  have  given  the  continual  lie  to  the  precepts  of  our  holy 
religion. 

The  extract  referred  to  follows  : 

“ THE  LOSS  OF  OUR  CHILDREN. 

“ It  is  a hopeful  sign  that  Catholics  in  general  are  at  last  realizing 
what  has  been  plain  enough  to  some  of  us  for  a long  time.  The 
fact  that  our  losses,  from  one  cause  or  another,  more  than  counter- 
balance our  gains,  and  that  our  progress  and  prosperity  for  the 
last  few  years  have  been  material  rather  than  spiritual,  has  been  put 
before  the  Catholic  public,  with  more  or  less  clearness,  by  more 

than  one  writer And,  now  that  the  Bishop  of  Salford 

has  brought  the  matter  prominently  forward  in  the  most  recent 
and  not  less  important  of  his  penny  books,  ‘The  Loss  of  Our 
Children’  (which  we  hope  each  of  our  readers  will  obtain  and 

study),  the  laity  are  waking  up Here  is  his  lordship’s 

summary : 

“An  analysis  of  the  condition  of  the  children  under  twenty-one 
years  of  age  brings  us  to  the  following  appalling  conclusions,  viz. : 

“That  there  are  in  extreme  danger  of  loss  of  faith,  or  practi- 
cally lost  to  the  faith,  5420  ; viz. : 

31 


482 


Under  7, 
Under  16, 
Under  21, 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


2381 

2130 

009 


Total, 5420 

“ In  this  category  are  classed  those  children  whose  parents  were 
never  at  Mass,  never  made  their  Easter  duties,  and  who  were  utterly 
callous  of  the  religious  welfare  of  their  children  ; who,  in  their 
turn,  never  attended  Mass  or  attended  Catholic  school. 


“ In  great  danger,  2341 ; viz. : 

Under  7 120S 

Under  10 819 

Under  21, 314 

Total, 2341 

“ In  danger,  1912  ; viz.  : 

Under  7 S85 

Under  10 744 

Under  21, 283 

Total 1912 

“This  unhappy  residuum  is  thus  apportioned  : 

To  irreligious  parents 573S 

To  mixed  marriages, 2584 

To  careless  and  indifferent  parents. 1351 

Total 9073 


“ This  result , he  it  remembered , is  for  a part  only  of  one 
diocese. 

“ What  are  the  causes  of  this  loss?  The  Bishop  of  Salford  gives 
many,  but  one  demands  our  special  attention  : The  drink iny  hab- 
its of  parents,  producing  thriftlessness , poverty , religious  indiffer- 
ence , and  a general  degradation  of  mind  and  body , in  which  the 
children  participate.  This  cause  is,  indeed,  only  too  obvious. 

What  are  we  doing  to  lessen  it?  It  is  more  than  ten  years  since 
Cardinal  Manning  said  : ‘ If  we  had  begun  the  League  of  the  Cross 
twenty-five  years  ago,  we  should  have  a hundred  thousand  more 
Catholics  in  London.  If  twenty-five  years  ago  men  and  women 
had  been  sober,  there  wrould  have  been  that  number  of  Catholics 

more  to-day  than  there  is.’ 

“There  are  thousands  of  the  sons  and  daughters  of  Irish  parents 
in  the  work-house.  How  did  they  get  there?  By  drink.  They 
went  into  the  work-house  to  get  bread,  and  their  children  were 
brought  up  without  faith  and  without  religion. 


THE  CATHOLIC  WORLD. 


483 


“And  yet,  so  far  as  well-to-do  Catholics  are  concerned,  the 
Catholic  temperance  movement  is  practically  ignored,  if,  indeed,  it 
is  not  actually  and  openly  despised;  while  even  among  those  who 
abstain  themselves,  there  is  far  too  little  zeal  for  the  welfare  of 
others.” 

The  adherents  of  the  Catholic  Church  are  largely  those 
who  are  personally  connected  with  the  labor  organizations  of 
the  day,  and  to  no  class  of  our  people  is  the  temperance 
question  more  vital  than  to  them.  AVhile  I do  not  consider 
total  abstinence  a complete  remedy,  it  is  the  largest  directly 
available  measure  of  relief  for  the  ills  of  poverty  and  the 
misfortunes  of  life.  It  is  a means  of  evolution  which  Ave  can 
ourselves  apply  to  better  our  condition ; and  Ave  shall  have  a 
stronger  claim  to  help  from  others  when  Ave  have,  to  the 
utmost  of  our  ability,  helped  ourselves.  Other  classes  of 
men  should,  hoAvever,  be  slow  to  demand  of  the  poor  a 
higher  standard  of  moral  action  or  of  self-restraint  than  they 
impose  upon  themselves  : and  least  of  all  should  they  make 
the  cheap  indulgences  of  the  manual  toiler,  which  are  often 
only  the  opiates  Avhich  temporarily  relieve  physical  or  men- 
tal distress,  the  excuse  for  permitting  the  continuance  of 
social  and  legal  disabilities  Avhich  humanity  should  remove. 

Rev.  Thomas  J.  Conaty,  president  of  the  Catholic  Total 
Abstinence  Union  of  America,  has  recently  published  two 
very  able  addresses  upon  the  relation  of  the  liquor  problem 
to  that  of  labor,  Arery  brief  extracts  from  Avhich  I reproduce 
from  the  Catholic  World. 

In  the  issue  of  the  Catholic  World  of  Ala)’,  1887,  is  the 
first  address,  in  Avhich  he  says  : " Who  support  the  saloons? 
Certainly  not  the  wealthy  classes ; they  seldom  enter  any 
establishment  that  may  be  called  by  that  name.  In  one  of 
our  factory  cities  in  Massachusetts,  Avith  15,000  operatives, 
there  are  375  saloons,  or  one  in  every  forty.  That  is  to 
sa}%  forty  Avorking  people  are  supposed  to  support  a saloon. 
When  you  consider  that  out  of  those  15,000  operatives 
there  must  be  several  thousands  Avho  never  use  liquor,  you 
can  readily  see  Iioav  heavy  this  blood  tax  is  upon  the  classes 
that  drink.  And  we  can  also  see  Avhy  so  many  are  in  mis- 
ery and  degradation,  perfect  strangers  to  happiness,  content- 
ment or  independence,  always  paying  rent,  and  always  in 


484 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


debt.  A\  orkingmen,  open  your  eyes  ! Protect  your  labor, 
save  your  earnings.  4 ou  are  in  a great  contest  for  your 
rights  : you  need  clear  heads : you  need  manhood,  which 
teaches  to  make  the  most  of  every  day,  which  enables  you 
to  earn  and  to  enjoy.  Labor  is  the  badge  of  manhood. 
Labor  is  the  noblest  title  in  America.  It  is  the  key  to 
American  success.  Intemperance  has  already  swept  out  of 
life  more  than  war  and  famine  have  destroyed.  Its  scythe 
is  still  deep  in  the  harvest.  Men  are  falling  beneath  it.  Be 
men.  Break  off  every  chain  of  slavery.  Protect  your  labor 
from  the  tyranny  of  drink.  If  you  are  going  to  be  Knights 
of  Labor  and  struggle  for  your  rights,  be  also  knights  of  tem- 
perance. Preserve  the  powers  given  by  God  to  enable  you 
to  labor  and  to  earn,  and,  when  you  have  earned,  to  purchase 
happiness,  comfort  and  independence,  and  not  misery,  mis- 
fortune and  slavery,  for  these  are  the  fruits  of  intemperance. 
Labor  has  too  noble  a mission  to  be  allowed  to  become  a 
handmaid  of  intemperance.” 

Pursuing  the  same  subject  in  the  Catholic  World  of 
August,  1887,  Father  Conaty  says:  "The  battle  is  really 
between  the  saloon  and  the  home.  The  saloon  has  fastened 
itself  upon  societ\’  as  an  ulcer  living  upon  the  life-blood  of 
the  people.  The  saloon,  building  itself  upon  the  ruin  of 
broken  lives  and  shattered  homes,  spreads  desolation  every- 
where,  respecting  no  class  or  sex.  The  union  recalls  the 
countless  boys  ruined,  the  fathers  changed  into  destroyers 
of  their  little  ones,  the  industry  paralyzed,  the  prisons  filled, 
and  it  asks  each  saloon  how  much  of  this  is  its  work.  It 
calls  on  the  law  to  place  about  the  saloon  such  reasonable 
restrictions  as  will  remove  as  far  as  possible  the  evils  that 
spring  up  from  it.  It  demands  the  enforcement  of  those 
laws  for  the  protection  of  home.  The  arrogance  of  the 
saloon  and  the  power  it  wields  in  political  affairs,  all  for  its 
own  interests  and  against  those  of  society,  have  awakened  a 
stronger  interest  in  the  cause  of  total  abstinence  organized 
on  Catholic  principles.” 

With  these  citations  I close  the  chapter.  Such  high 
authority  and  eloquent  utterances  must  move  not  only  those 
to  whom  they  are  specially  addressed,  but  the  whole  body- 
politic.  Experience  will  demonstrate  the  necessity  of 


THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH. 


485 


adopting  fully  the  plan,  not  only  of  total  abstinence  by 
the  individual,  but  also  of  absolute  prohibition  by  the  State. 
May  we  not  hope — I feel  sure  that  it  is  coining  — that  the 
mighty  power  of  the  Catholic  Church,  with  her  followers, 
will  demand  it  in  the  nation  as  well  as  in  every  common- 
wealth wherein  her  influence  can  be  exerted.  It  will  be  the 
easier  to  abstain  from  that  which  does  not  exist;  no  one  is 
tempted  by  that  which  he  cannot  get.  Every  lover  of  his 
country,  and  of  his  fellow-men,  will  thank  God  when  the 
whole  Christian  Church  shall  demand  that  the  law  require  of 
society  what  conscience  and  religion  demand  of  the  indi- 
vidual— total  abstinence  from  all  beverages  which  intoxicate 

O 

and  destroy. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 


TEMPERANCE  ORGANIZATIONS 


The  National  Temperance  Society  and  Publication  House;  Agitation 
and  Literature;  “Total  Abstinence  and  Prohibition”;  William  E. 
Dodge  and  Theodore  Cuyler;  the  Temperance  Advocate  — Indepen- 
dent Order  of  Good  Templars ; Five  Million  Members  ; an  Organiza- 
tion which  Belts  the  Globe;  Six  Hundred  Thousand  Meetings  a Year; 
the  Ritual  in  a Dozen  Languages ; the  Lamented  Hon.  John  B.  Finch 

— The  Sons  of  Temperance ; the  Oldest  Secret  Temperance  Society, 
Organized  1842  ; Gen.  Sam.  Cary : “ Seal  up  the  Fountain  of  Death” ; 
Growth  in  Southern  States;  Eugene  IL  Clapp,  “ Responsibility  of  the 
Individual  for  Inebriety  ” — Templars  of  Honor  and  Temperance  — 
Citizens’  Law  and  Order  League  of  the  United  States ; the  Object  to 
Enforce  Existing  Laws ; Charles  C.  Bonney,  President ; Platform  cf 
Convention,  1885  — Royal  Templars  of  Temperance  — Cadets  of 
Temperance — United  Temperance  Association  — United  Kingdom 
Alliance — British  Temperance  League  — Scottish  Temperance  League 

— Irish  Temperance  League  — Political  Parties  and  the  Reform  — 
Through  Parties  or  Above  Parties,  the  People  Should  Extirpate  the 
Evil  from  the  Land. 

HE  great  work  of  temperance  education  — moral  suasion 


1 and  legal  reform  — is  largely  promoted  by  various  vol- 
untary associations  created  for  that  purpose,  of  which  the 
principal  are  the  National  Temperance  Society  and  Publica- 
tion House,  the  Independent  Order  of  Good  Templars,  the 
Sons  of  Temperance,  Templars  of  Honor  and  Temperance, 
the  Citizens’  Law  and  Order  League,  and  the  Woman’s 
Christian  Temperance  Union.  There  are  other  organizations 
of  importance  which  deserve  mention,  that  my  limits  will 
not  permit.  But  this  work  would  lie  incomplete  without 
some  account  of  what  may  be  styled  the  secular  wing  of  the 
Army  of  the  Lord. 

THE  NATIONAL  TEMPERANCE  SOCIETY  AND  PUBLICATION 


HOUSE 


This  society  is  the  creator  of  modern  temperance  litera- 
ture. It  was  organized  at  Saratoga  in  the  year  1865,  by  325 


4SG 


THE  NATIONAL  TEMPERANCE  SOCIETY. 


487 


delegates,  gathered  from  twenty-five  different  States.  Com- 
mittees were  chosen,  the  one  to  conduct  the  general  work  of 
temperance  agitation  and  reform,  the  other  to  produce  a lit- 
erature— books,  pamphlets,  tracts,  newspapers  — for  dis- 
tribution among  the  people.  The  exceeding  ignorance  of  the 
country  and  of  the  world  upon  the  subject,  twenty  years 
ago,  would  hardly  be  credited  now.  It  can  not  be  said  that 
the  ignorance  is  even  yet  dispelled — it  is  less  dense.  Some 
are  cured  and  have  gone  about  their  business  ; a few  are  run- 
ning, leaping  and  praising  God,  which  is  being  a "crank”;  a 
large  number  see  men  as  trees  walking;  some  have  glass 
eyes,  and  look  well,  but  are  stone-blind,  and  some  are  blind 
beyond  pretense  of  hope  or  even  of  miracle  ; and  many  fear 
the  light  because  their  deeds  are  evil  — their  eyes  are  good, 
but  they  keep  them  shut. 

The  committees,  after  much  deliberation,  were  consoli- 
dated. Hon.  William  E.  Dodge  of  New  York  city  was 
made  the  first  president,  and  the  committee  had  its  place  of 
meeting  in  his  office.  The  constitution  was  drawn  by  Rev. 
Dr.  Theodore  L.  Cuyler,  now  the  president  of  the  society, 
and  for  all  these  years  a tower  of  strength  to  the  cause. 
Others  have  died,  but  he  has  not.  Plow  many  thank  God 
that  he  "still  lives”! 

" The  basis  of  the  society  is  total  abstinence  for  the  indi- 
vidual and  total  prohibition  for  the  State.”  The  pledge 
is  as  follows : 

“ No  person  shall  be  a member  of  this  society  who  does  not  sub- 
scribe to  the  following  pledge  — namely  : 

“‘We,  the  undersigned,  do  agree  that  we  will  not  use  intoxi- 
cating liquors  as  a beverage,  nor  traffic  in  them  ; that  Ave  will  not 
provide  them  as  an  article  of  entertainment,  or  for  persons  in  our 
employment;  and  that  in  all  suitable  ways  we  will  discountenance 
their  use  throughout  the  country.’” 

Pfiie  receipts  of  the  society'  have  been  about  $1,100,000, 
" every  dollar  of  which  has  been  expended  in  creating  and 
circulating  a sound  temperance  literature,  and  carrying  on  its 

missionary  operations Its  work  covers  the  nation, 

and  its  literature  permeates  every  part  of  the  country 

It  furnishes  physiological  investigation,  social  appeal,  relig- 
ious instruction,  political  argument,  scientific  experiment, 


488 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


legislative  discussion,  Bible  truth,  pulpit  preparation,  plat- 
form oratory,  drawing-room  readings,  lyceum  and  lodge 
exhortations,  and,  in  short,  supplies  for  every  rank  in  life 
and  every  condition  in  society.”  The  society  has  now  on  its 
catalogue  more  than  1000  publications,  from  the  pens  of 
more  than  250  different  writers,  covering  every  conceivable 
aspect  of  the  temperance  discussion.  It  publishes  the 
National  Temperance  Advocate,  now  twenty-two  years  old, 
of  which,  up  to  May,  1885,  more  than  2,000,000  copies 
had  been  published.  One-third  of  its  publications  are  for 
children.  About  30,000,000  copies  of  the  Youth's  Temper- 
ance Banner  have  been  distributed  already.  It  has  printed 
more  than  100,000,000  pages  of  temperance  Sabbath-school 
matter,  and  4,000,000  pages  of  children’s  tracts.  Of  various 
temperance  tracts  90,000,000  pages  and  tons  of  music-books 
and  books  of  temperance  songs,  and  711,417,427  pages  of 
temperance  matter  printed  since  the  organization  of  the 
society. 

The  missionary  work  of  the  societ\r  comprises : 

1.  The  work  among  the  freedmen  of  the  South,  sending 
missionaries  and  literature,  etc. 

2.  The  work  in  Congress  for  national  commission  of 
inquiry  into  the  results  of  the  liquor  traffic,  Constitutional 
prohibition,  and  other  legislation  concerning  the  temperance 
reform. 

3.  Holding  mass  meetings,  conferences,  conventions,  etc., 
in  all  parts  of  the  country. 

4.  The  introduction  of  temperance  text-books  into  the 
public  schools. 

5.  To  scatter  a literature  in  prisons,  hospitals,  shops 
and  jails,  and  other  needy  localities. 

6.  To  send  a specially  prepared  volume  upon  the  various 
phases  of  the  temperance  question,  to  the  pastor  of  every 
colored  church  in  the  South. 

All  this  has  been  prosecuted  upon  a gigantic  scale,  almost 
without  money  and  without  price.  This  society  has  made 
temperance  salvation  about  as  free  as  any.  Its  managers 
have  passed  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  in 
the  dark  and  bitter  years  of  the  past,  in  order  to  continue 
their  <rreat  and  sacred  work.  Of  all  this  there  is  a full 

C> 


THE  GOOD  TEMPLARS. 


489 


account  in  " One  Hundred  Years  of  Temperance.”  Those 
who  sometimes  sneer  that  the  statue  of  Mr.  Dodge  stands  in 
the  city  of  New  York,  should  know  more  of  the  work  done 
by  himself  and  his  associates.  If  they  realized  the  benefac- 
tions 'which  he  was  instrumental  in  conferring  upon  mankind, 
such  men  would  kiss  the  ground  at  the  foot  of  his  monument 
in  humble  apology — if  they  did  their  duty.  It  is  a great 
shame  that  this  institution,  which  has  been  the  great  instru- 
mentality of  them  all  in  producing  and  shaping  the  mighty 
temperance  movement  of  to-day,  and  is  all-important  for  the 
future,  should  ever  sutler  from  want  — like  one  of  God's 
poor. 

In  all  these  years  — for  many  I have  known  it  of  him  my- 
self— Mr.  J.  N.  Stearns,  the  able  and  indefatigable  cor- 
responding secretary  and  publishing  agent,  often  under  the 
utmost  stress  of  difficulties,  has  worn  out  body  and  soul  to 
promote  the  great  cause  and  to  hasten  the  day  of  sunrise 
upon  a drunken  world.  If  I could  pay  him  a suitable  tribute 
in  this  book,  I vrnuld  do  it.  But  God  knows  his  jewels,  and 
that  is  enough. 

Mr.  A.  M.  Powell  has  long  been  connected  with  the 
society,  and  the  Temperance  Advocate  is  his  sufficient  monu- 
ment. His  literary  work  has  been  of  the  first  order,  and 
his  clear  and  vigorous  mind  has  long  been  devoted  to  legis- 
lative measures  of  both  State  and  nation. 

The  true  friends  of  temperance  should  strengthen  and 
support  the  National  Temperance  Society,  and  uphold  the 
hands  of  these  two  men  w7ho  have  charge  of  its  practical 
work,  as  one  of  their  first  duties  to  the  cause. 

In  the  thick-coming  events  of  the  future  this  great  arsenal 
should  be  kept  full.  The  army  has  need  of  abundant  stores, 
and  means  for  their  distribution. 

THE  INDEPENDENT  ORDER  OF  GOOD  TEMPLARS. 

The  thirty-third  annual  session  of  this  order  Avas  held  at 
Saratoga  in  June,  1887,  with  161  representatives  and  post 
representatives  from  46  Grand  Lodges.  The  order  has 
483,103  members  and  139,951  Juvenile  Templars,  and  is  by 
far  the  largest  temperance  organization  in  the  world.  It  has 
initiated  over  five  millions  of  members.  The  order  exists  in 


490 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


every  State  and  Territory  of  the  United  States ; in  all  the 
provinces  in  Canada;  in  England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  and 
Wales  ; in  Belgium,  Denmark,  Sweden,  Germany,  Holland, 
Iceland,  Switzerland,  and  all  other  localities  in  Europe  ; in 
Arabia,  China,  India,  and  other  countries  in  Asia  : in  Cape 
Colony,  Eg}rpt,  Gold  Coast,  Natal,  St.  Helena,  Sierra  Leone, 
and  other  localities  in  Africa  ; throughout  the  West  Indies 
and  South  America ; and  in  Australia,  New  South  Wales, 
New  Zealand,  and  wheresoever  else  civilization  and  rum,  its 
natural  foe,  are  to  be  found.  The  peaceful  influence  of  this 
great  order  is  as  widespread  as  the  sunshine  ; and  its  prayers 
and  songs,  and  the  incense  of  its  good  works,  ascend  every- 
where under  the  whole  heaven. 

It  is  simply  a temperance  society  doing  business  under  the 
laws  of  God  everywhere  throughout  the  world,  with  an  eye 
single  to  one  great  underlying  principle,  total  abstinence  for 
the  individual  and  total  prohibition  for  the  State.  The 
pledge  is  perpetual.  The  order  is  inflexibly  opposed  to  license 
laws  and  to  any  form  of  legal  recognition  of  the  liquor  traffic. 

Over  12,000  meetings  throughout  the  world  are  held  each 
week,  in  connection  with  the  order ; over  GOO, 000  each  year, 
and  besides  these  thousands  more  of  public  meetings.  Its 
annual  expenditui'es  for  the  temperance  cause  far  exceed 
those  of  any  other  temperance  organization,  and  are  nearly 
or  quite  $600,000.  In  this  order  a woman  is  as  good  as  a 
man.  She  can  do  or  be  anything  for  which  she  has  capacity, 
and  it  is  not  necessary  that  she  be  far  superior  to  man  so 
that  she  may  receive  the  same  recognition.  She  has  fre- 
quently held  the  highest  offices  in  Grand  Lodges.  She  votes 
just  like  a man  — yet  the  order  grows  constantly  in  wide- 
spread influence  and  beneficent  power.  Experience  in  this 
great  international  republic  seems  to  demonstrate  that  woman 
is  woman  just  as  man  is  man  ; that  both  constitute  the  human 
race,  which  is  a unit,  and  that  the  soul  is  of  no  sex.  " The 
Good  Templars  are  essentially  a religious  organization, 
although  there  is  no  religious  test  for  membership,  any 
further  than  that  no  one  who  does  not  believe  in  a Supreme 
Being  can  belong  to  the  order.” 

" The  ritual  of  the  order  has  been  translated  into  some  ten 
or  twelve  different  languages,”  and  "in  all  parts  of  the  world 


Mrs.  Esther  T.  Housh , 

of  J ' crmont . 


THE  GOOD  TEMPLARS. 


491 


the  same  ritual  is  in  use,  the  same  sonars  are  sun"  ; the  mem- 
hers  of  the  order  everywhere  enter  their  lodge-rooms  with 
the  same  pass-word,  the  pass-word  being  changed  all  over 
the  world  every  three  months.  A Good  Templar  would  be 
just  as  much  at  ease  in  a lodge-room  in  China,  in  Africa,  or 
New  Zealand,  as  he  would  at  his  own  home.” 

The  order  was  founded  by  a few  earnest  young  men  — 
some  ol  them  reformed,  in  central  New  York  during  the  year 
1851.  The  following  is  the  general  platform  or  statement 
of  principles  : 

1.  Total  abstinence  - from  all  intoxicating  liquors  as  a 
beverage. 

2.  No  license  in  any  form  or  under  any  circumstances  for 
the  sale  of  such  liquors  to  be  used  as  a beverage. 

3.  The  absolute  prohibition  of  the  manufacture,  importa- 
tion and  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  for  such  purposes; 
prohibition  by  the  will  of  the  people,  expressed  in  due  form  of 
law,  with  the  penalties  deserved  for  a crime  of  such  enormity. 

4.  The  creation  of  a healthy  public  opinion  upon  the  sub- 
ject by  the  active  dissemination  of  truth  in  all  the  modes 
known  to  an  enlightened  philanthropy. 

5.  The  election  of  good  honest  men  to  administer  the  laws. 

6.  Persistence  in  efforts  to  save  individuals  and  commu- 
nities from  so  direful  a scourge  against  all  forms  of  opposition 
and  difficulty,  until  our  success  is  complete  and  universal. 

I must  refer  the  reader  to  the  centennial  volume,  " One  Hun- 
dred Years  of  Temperance,”  addresses  by  Hon.  S.  D. Hastings, 
Geo.  A.  Bailey,  Esq.,  and  other  leading  members  of  the  order, 
to  whom  I am  indebted,  for  more  complete  information. 

It  is  impossible  to  estimate  the  good  accomplished  by 
Good  Templars  already,  not  alone  in  temperance  reform  and 
in  teaching  by  example  the  great  lesson  of  the  equality  of 
woman  with  man,  but  also  in  foreshadowing  by  the  univer- 
sality of  its  organization,  its  work  and  its  sympathies,  the 
new  order  of  things  when  : 

“ Man  to  man,  the  warld  o’er. 

Shall  brothers  be  for  a’  that.” 

It  is  with  grief  that,  in  closing  this  imperfect  notice  of  one 
of  the  principal  agencies  in  past  and  future  conflicts  between 


/ 


I 


492 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


imin  and  alcohol,  I must  record  the  great  blow  which  it  has 
suffered,  in  common  with  the  whole  temperance  movement, 
by  the  startling  death  of  the  Chief  Officer  of  the  Order  for 
the  world,  Hon.  John  B.  Finch  of  Illinois.  In  the  presence 
of  such  an  event,  the  voice  is  mute  and  the  pen  will  not 
move.  God  rest  his  soul,  while  millions  bless  his  memory  ! 

THE  SONS  OF  TEMPERANCE. 

This  is  the  oldest  of  the  important  secret  temperance  organ- 
izations, and  was  established  to  remedy  the  great  imperfec- 
tion in  the  Washingtonian  movement,  which  sought  and  found 
but  unfortunately  saved  only  a fraction  of  that  which  was 
lost.  Of  the  000,000  inebriates  reformed  by  the  Washing- 
tonian movement,  450,000  fell,  never  to  rise  again.  It  was 
a gale  which  blew  from  heaven  briefly  across  the  faces  of  the 
sick  nations  ; many  revived  and  a few  recovered.  But  soon 
the  windows  closed ; and  poisoned  air  frcrn  the  sewers,  and 
distilleries  reeking  with  disease  and  death,  filled  the  hospi- 
tals of  mankind,  and  hell  and  the  grave  were  again  merry 
over  their  own. 

There  was  no  organization  — there  was  no  law.  Enthusi- 
asm, from  its  very  nature,  can  not  stay.  An  explosion  may, 
after  a while,  be  repeated,  but  it  is  a poor  organizer.  It  can 
not  wait,  and,  without  waiting,  it  can  not  save.  All  the 
same,  the  explosion  is  good  ; it  rends  the  rock  and  is  indispen- 
sable. To  have  created  the  necessity  and  to  have  made  the 
way  for  such  an  order  as  the  Sons  of  Temperance,  was,  of 
itself,  an  incalculable  good  ; and  the  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  who  were  steadfast  have  been  a mighty  power  in 
subsequent  reform.  Rev.  R.  Alder  Temple,  Most  Worthy 
Scribe,  says  : 'r  A society  was  therefore  needed  which  should 
offer  a refuge  to  reformed  men,  and  shield  them  from  tempta- 
tion   another  conspicuous  necessity  had  its  influence 

in  originating  the  new  order.  A large  proportion  of  the  ine- 
briates had  emerged  from  the  deepest  poverty,  and  must 
begin  life  anew.  It  was  requisite  that  they  should  be  fur- 
nished with  the  means  of  support  in  time  of  sickness.  The 
popular  beneficial  societies  of  the  day  were  accessible  ; but 
none  of  these  required  total  abstinence  as  a condition  of 
membership,  nor  could  their  benefits  be  made  available  by 


) 


THE  SONS  OF  TEMPERANCE. 


493 


the  reformed,  without  serious  peril.  A society  was  therefore 
needed  which  would  offer  its  benefits  and  highest  distinctions, 
without  prejudice,  to  the  humblest  as  well  as  the  loftiest,  and 
apply  the  balm  of  healing  to  the  wounds  inflicted  by  igno- 
rance, improvidence  and  intemperance.” 

Therefore  were  the  Sons  of  Temperance  organized  on  the 
twenty-ninth  day  of  September,  1842,  the  object  being  thus 
declared  upon  the  official  records  of  the  society  : " To  shield 
its  members  from  the  evils  of  intemperance;  to  afford  mutual 
assistance  in  case  of  sickness,  and  to  elevate  their  characters  as 
men.”  Although  its  meetings  are  private,  it  disclaims  being 
an  oath-bound  society,  " unless  the  simple  repetition  of  the 
pledge  be  an  oath.”  "The  progress  of  the  order  during  its 
first  decade  was  a triumphal  march.”  " At  the  close  of  1846, 
the  membership  nuihbered  100,000;  an  increase  of  60,000 
in  one  year.” 

In  1849,  Gen.  Cary,  the  chief  officer,  said:  "We  must 
have  a nobler,  higher,  holier  ambition  than  to  reform  one 
generation  of  drunkards  after  another.  We  must  seal  up 
the  fountain  whence  flows  the  desolating  stream  of  death  ! ” 
And  the  National  Division  declared  that  " the  mission  of  the 
order  is  to  secure  the  utter  annihilation  of  the  manufacture 
of  and  traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks,”  and  that  " we  desire, 
will  have  and  will  enforce  laws,  in  our  respective  localities, 
for  the  suppression  of  this  man-destroying,  God-dishonoring 
business,”  and  that  has  been  the  policy  and  aim  of  the  order 
until  the  present  time.  In  1850  the  order  had  a membership 
of  230,000,  and  was  in  the  zenith  of  its  power. 

In  1866,  all  distinctions  between  man  and  woman,  so  far 
as  relates  to  membership  and  advancement,  were  abolished, 
" and  woman  took  her  seat  beside  the  lord  of  creation  as  his 
equal  and  complement,  like  ' perfect  music  set  to  noble 
words.’”  During  the  war,  " wide-spread  paralysis  settled 
upon  the  order.  Disintegration  stared  it  in  the  face,”  and, 
aside  from  Ihe  influence  of  the  war,  general  apathy  and  re- 
action existed  in  the  temperance  movement.  This  might 
have  been  foretold,  because  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of 
human  nature.  In  just  the  same  way,  the  general  interest 
and  zeal  in  the  movement  now  manifest  all  over  the  country, 
and  its  benefits,  will  disappear  in  reaction,  unless  they  are 


494 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


secured  and  locked  up  in  the  granaries  of  State  and  espe- 
cially of  national  law.  The  seven  3-ears  of  famine  M ill  surely 
come,  when  we  shall  starve,  unless  we  save  the  corn  raised 
in  these  years  of  enthusiastic  production. 

During  the  third  decade  the  order  nearly  disappeared  from 
the  Southern  States,  but  as  soon  as  the  war  Mras  over  it  began 
to  revive,  and  in  1872  it  numbered  nearly  94,000  members. 
Various  other  organizations  have  arisen  which  have  divided 
with  the  " Sons  ” their  peculiar  work,  and,  although  they  do 
not  exhibit  the  growth  of  former  years,  and,  in  fact,  declined 
greatly  in  numbers  for  a while,  there  is  no  decrease  in 
their  real  vitality  nor  in  the  cause  to  which  they  are 
devoted.  The  membership  in  1882  was  73,000,  a gain  in 
the  three  preceding  years  of  33,200  members;  and  at 
the  forty-third  annual  session  of  the  National  Division, 
held  in  Boston,  July,  1887,  the  membership  was  reported 
to  be  84,379. 

The  Most  Worthy  Patriarch,  Eugene  H.  Clapp  of  Boston, 
in  his  report  to  the  Division,  took  a position  whieh  has  been 
advocated  in  this  book  — and  which  I believe  to  be  indispen- 
sable to  the  success  of  the  temperance  reform  — that  of  the 
responsibility  of  the  individual  for  inebriety,  as  Mrell  as  for 
any  other  offense  which  injures  society.  When  the  indi- 
vidual ceases  to  be  responsible  for  his  conduct  he  should  be 
confined.  Mr.  Clapp  says  : 

“For  some  time  past  there  has  been  growing  in  my  mind  a 
conviction  that,  in  one  phase  at  least  of  this  temperance  reforma- 
tion, we  have  been  making  a grave  mistake  during  the  past.  In 
my  experience  as  a manufacturer,  employing  large  numbers  of 
men,  I have  noted  personally  (and  my  attention  has  been  called  to 
it  by  other  large  employers)  the  increasing  tendency  to  drunken- 
ness among  a certain  class  of  our  population.  The  remedy  has 
been  sought  in  different  directions,  and  to-day  this  remedy  is 
being  applied  much  more  strictly  than  ever  before,  and  the  feeling 
is  very  strongly  marked  to  discharge  from  one’s  employment  the 
man  who  allows  himself  to  become  a drunkard.  Now,  I know 
that  the  whole  tendency  has  been  in  the  past  to  devote  a large 
amount  of  svmpathy  to  the  man  who  drinks,  and  a still  larger 
amount  of  reprobation  for  the  man  who  furnishes  the  drink. 
While  I would  not  abate  one  jot  or  tittle  of  the  denunciation  of 
the  drunkard-maker,  yet  I believe  that  the  time  lias  come  that  we 


James  H.  Roberts, 

Chairman  Prohibitory  Committee  of  Massachusetts. 


V 


THE  SONS  OF  TEMPERANCE.  495 

ought,  for  our  own  protection  at  least,  to  equally  denounce  the 
dram-drinker.  I believe  much  of  the  sympathy  which  has  been 
devoted  in  this  way  in  the  past  has  been  wrongly  placed,  and 
much  of  the  consequences  of  evil  habits  of  the  drinking  portion  of 
our  community,  for  the  sympathy  has  thus  been  expressed  for 
the  man  who  drinks.  We  have  been  accustomed  to  say  that  the 
drinker  is  a poor  unfortunate  and  needs  all  our  sympathies,  and 
who  is  to  be  aided  and  upheld,  and  we  are  taught  to  regard  him 
as  a victim  rather  than  a sinner.  The  time  has  come,  in  my 
judgment,  when  we  should  teach  that  the  sin  of  drunkenness  is 
just  as  vile  and  degrading  as  any  other  vice  to  which  mankind  is 
addicted ; and  as  we  hold  the  violator  of  law  responsible  in  every 
other  direction,  so  we  should  hold  equally  the  man  who  drinks  for 
the  responsibility  of  his  acts.  While  we  teach  him,  as  we  have 
in  many  cases,  that  he  is  not  responsible  for  the  acts  he  does  or 
crimes  he  commits,  we  are  simply  leading  him  into  ways  of  false 
security  and  rendering  it  so  much  easier  for  him  to  drink  and  so 
much  harder  for  him  to  stop.  Let  us,  then,  hold  the  drinker  up 
in  the  full  measure  of  his  responsibility  in  the  acts  he  commits, 
and  let  us  no  longer  waste  any  false  sympathy  upon  him  unless  he 
is  in  a position  to  deserve  it.  Raise  to-day  a new  standard  of 
reform,  and  say  that  the  drunkard  deserves  nothing  at  our  hands, 
unless  he  recognizes  the  evils  of  the  past  and  is  willing  to  do 
something  himself  to  aid  in  the  bettering  of  his  life.  Without 
this  we  can  hope  for  nothing  permanent  in  his  future  in  this 
direction.  And  I desire  to  call  your  attention  to-day  to  the 
thought  that,  if  we  are  to  make  men  sober,  it  is  not  by  wasting  our 
energies  by  telling  them  they  can  not  help  themselves,  but  by 
telling  them  unless  they  do  help  themselves  it  is  impossible  for  us 
to  aid  them.  I have  found,  as  a result  of  inquiry  and  personal 
attention  to  this  matter,  that  when  men  are  taught  that  as  a 
result  of  their  drinking  habits  they  will  be  punished,  either  by 
loss  of  situation  or  by  legal  methods,  it  becomes  a strong  element 
of  control  over  them,  holding  them  more  nearly  in  the  line  of  duty. 
I know,  undoubtedly,  I shall  be  classed  as  one  having  no  sympathy 
for  the  man  who  drinks ; but  I believe  that  the  position  I have 
given  you  is  the  proper  one,  and  the  sooner  we  recognize  the 
responsibility  of  the  drinker,  to  himself  and  society,  the  sooner  we 
shall  begin  to  do  something  to  stay  this  mighty  flood  of  intem- 
perance which  has  swept  over  the  land  for  so  many  years.  I 
would,  then,  hold  the  inebriate  to  a strict  account  for  his  acts,  and 
I believe  that,  in  view  of  such  an  accounting,  we  shall  find  a bet- 
ter sentiment,  a stronger  desire  to  do  better,  and  a general  lessen- 
ing of  the  evils  which  afflict  the  community.” 


496 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


This  is  .‘ill  gospel  truth  ; but  the  primary  duty  is  upon 
society  to  outlaw  the  traffic  and  cleanse  itself  of  the  crime 
by  State,  national  and  international  law.  Society  manufac- 
tures, society  sells,  society  distributes,  society  creates  and 
supplies  the  appetite;  and,  then,  as  to  the  individual  — let 
him  go  hang.  And  as  to  the  individual,  that  is  all  rmht. 
In  no  other  way  can  public  order  be  preserved.  But  it  is 
society  which  commits  the  greatest  of  all  crimes,  and  upon 
society  at  large  justly  fall  the  awful  penalties. 

TEMPLARS  OF  HONOR  AND  TEMPERANCE. 

This  order  seems  to  be  the  very  poetry  of  secret  organi- 
zation applied  to  temperance.  Rev.  C.  S.  Woodruff,  Most 
W orthy  Templar,  says  : 

“ The  Temple  of  Honor  is  a child  of  Providence,  born  at  a time 
when  there  was  a lagging  in  the  great  temperance  reformation,  and 
a lack  of  something  was  unmistakably  felt;  it  came  into  existence, 
not  only  to  help  the  inebriate  in  his  desire  to  reform,  but  to  con- 
firm and  establish  him  in  bis  honest  endeavors,  — to  throw  around 
him  strong  arms- of  fraternal  help  and  sympathy,  to  educate  him 
in  purer  principles  of  life  and  character;  and,  more  than  all  this, 
to  inaugurate  those  great  educational  forces  which  should  make 
the  individual  an  abstainer,  and  the  State  a protector  and  hence 
a prohibitor.” 

The  Sons  of  Temperance,  as  we  have  seen,  were  conserva- 
tive and  simple  in  their  organization,  well  adapted  to  their 
great  purpose  of  giving  permanent  rescue  to  the  reformed. 

Their  order  was  the  common  school  of  reformation  while  the 
Templars  of  Honor  and  Temperance  sought  to  develop  a higher, 
broader,  but  at  the  same  time  more  select  culture,  which  they 
clothed  in  an  elaborate  and  highly  relined  symbolism. 

The  name  Temple  of  Honor  is  the  embodiment  of  the  great 
principles  which  underlie  this  order. 

A most  interesting  account  of  it  is  given  by  Mr.  Wood- 
ruff in  "One  Hundred  Years  of  Temperance,”  p.  505. 

THE  CITIZENS’  LAW  AND  ORDER  LEAGUE  OF  THE  UNITED 

STATES. 

The  object  of  this  organization  is  the  enforcement  of  ex- 
isting hrws,  particularly  those  in  restriction  of  the  liquor 
traffic.  Its  general  idea  is  that  the  public  good  requires  the 


THE  LAW  AND  ORDER  LEAGUE. 


497 


enforcement  of  whatever  is,  for  the  time  being,  the  law  of 
the  land  ; that  the  supremacy  of  the  law  should  be  demon- 
strated for  the  sake  of  example,  and  for  the  preservation  of 
that  respect  for  the  personified  public  will  without  which 
anarchy  must  usurp  the  place  of  government  and  destroy 
the  very  cement  of  society.  It  demands  only  obedience  to 
the  laws.  The  Law  and  Order  movement  originated  in 
'Chicago,  in  1877  ; its  operations  were  directed  to  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  laws  for  the  suppression  of  the  sale  of  liquor  to 
minors.  Says  Mr.  Charles  C.  Bonney,  President  of  the  Na- 
tional League  : " Obstacles  were  encountered,  but  they  were 
speedily  overcome,  and  soon  the  penalty  of  tine  or  imprison- 
ment followed  the  complaint  so  swiftly  that  the  then  3006 
liquor  saloons  of  Chicago  practically  surrendered,  and  have 
•ever  since  acknowledged  the  power  of  the  Citizens’  League. 
It  is  believed  that  fully  five-sixths  of  the  sale  of  liquors  to 
minors  has  been  effectually  suppressed.” 

The  National  Law  and  Order  League  set  forth  its  object 
and  principles  at  length  in  the  annual  convention  of  1885. 
The  following  extracts  illustrate  their  spirit  and  the  purpose 
■of  the  League. 

1.  We  believe  it  an  admitted  fact  that  drunkenness  inflicts  upon 
the  people  of  this  country  more  misery,  pauperism  and  crime 
than  all  other  causes  combined 

3.  We  have  witnessed,  in  all  sections  of  the  country,  the 
humiliating  fact  that  while  the  people  generally  yield  a cheerful 
obedience  to  all  laws  enacted  for  the  protection  of  society,  the 
dealers  in  intoxicating  liquors  have  become  confirmed  in  the 
habit  of  disregarding  and  disobeying  all  laws  enacted  for  the 
restriction  of  their  business,  in  the  interest  of  good  order,  good 
morals,  and  a higher  and  better  prosperity  for  person,  family,  state 
and  nation 

G.  We  invite  all  good  citizens,  irrespective  of  religious  faith,  of 
all  political  parties,  without  regard  to  their  opinions  upon  ques- 
tions of  legislation,  without  respect  to  their  views  upon  any  other 
question  whatever,  to  unite  with  us,  and  to  labor  for  the  com- 
plete enforcement  of  all  laws  placing  restrictions  upon  the 
traffic  in  acoholic  drinks 

8.  We  adopt  as  the  motto  of  the  organization  these  words, 
“We  ask  only  obedience  to  law”;  and  as  our  watchword,  “Save 
the  boys”  ; and  upon  the  platform  here  indicated,  and  with  these 
32 


498 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


inscriptions  upon  our  banner,  we  go  forth  to  battle,  with  full  faith 
that  He  who  is  the  Author  of  all  law  will  in  the  end  crown  our 
efforts  with  complete  victory.” 

This  organization  supplies  a new  and  greatly  needed  force 
in  the  temperance  reform,  and,  quietly  but  effectually,  has 
put  vitality  into  the  existing  anti-liquor  laws  in  many  parts 
of  the  country,  demonstrating  the  existence  of  a power  for 
good  in  the  law  itself,  where  a lax  public  sentiment  or  cor- 
rupt alliance  between  officials  and  the  criminals  whom  they 
sought  to  protect,  in  spite  of  its  provisions,  had  brought  a 
disgrace  upon  the  statute,  which  belonged  to  the  community. 

The  organization  is  alert  and  efficient,  although  quiet  in 
its  operations,  and  an  increasing  power. 

THE  CHAUTAUQUA  LITERARY  AND  SCIENTIFIC  CIRCLE 

is  an  immense  educational  system  with  ganglia  or  nerve-cen- 
ters in  many  parts  of  the  country,  and  rapidly  spreading,  and 
likely  to  cover  the  whole  of  it,  all  connected  with  the  parent 
organization  in  such  way  as  to  secure  the  harmonious  and 
intelligent  supervision  necessary  to  efficiency. 

The  institution  already  has  more  than  60,000  members. 
It  is  unique  and  remarkable  although  very  simple  in  its  con- 
ception and  practical  working,  and  is  capable  of  universal 
application  to  a great  public  want.  It  should  become,  and,  I 
believe,  will  become,  one  of  the  permanent  institutions  of  the 
country. 

The  Circle  is  filling  the  space  between  the  common  schools 
and  the  higher  institutions  of  learning  with  the  omnipresence 
and  flexibility  of  water,  rather  than  with  the  inadaptability 
of  a solid  substance,  giving  to  all  the  opportunity  of  home 
reading  study  and  culture  under  only  so  much  of  supervisory 
help  as  is  required  for  obtaining  a thorough  acquaintance 
with  all  the  great  departments  of  popular  knowledge.  In 
this  way  every  spare  moment  of  a whole  life  may  be  econo- 
mized and  invested  in  a constantly  accumulating  fund  of 
information  and  mental  discipline. 

The  Circle  is,  in  fact,  becoming  a great  popular  college, 
and  I believe  it  will  be  permanent  and  one  of  the  most  influ- 
ential forces  of  the  country. 


Rev.  Theodore  L.  Flood,  D.D., 

Editor  of  “ d'iic  Chaulau/juanV 


I 


POLITICAL  PARTIES  AND  THE  REFORM. 


499 


Physiology  and  hygiene  are  necessarily  included  in  its 
course  of  reading  and  study,  and  the  character  of  its  member- 
ship leads  to  the  special  investigation  of  the  relation  of  intem- 
perance to  health  and  the  public  welfare. 

I anticipate  that  this  new  and  growing  institution  of  our 
country  will,  directly  and  indirectly,  exert  a powerful  influ- 
ence in  the  coming  struggles  for  temperance  reform. 

OTHER  ORGANIZATIONS. 

There  are  other  very  excellent  and  important  organiza- 
tions of  growing  strength  and  corresponding  usefulness  in 
tins  country,  of  which  the  principal  are  the  Royal  Templars 
of  Temperance,  which  from  the  year  of  its  formation,  in  1877, 
to  '.884,  had  paid  as  benefits  to  the  heirs  of  its  deceased 
members,  and  to  its  totally  disabled  members,  $1,169,501. 
It  is  a total-abstinence  order.  Also  the  order  of  Cadets  of 
Temperance,  which  saves  the  old  by  gathering  in  the  young. 
This  order  is  fully  described  in  " One  Hundred  Years  of 
Temperance,”  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  it  may  become 
widely  established  in  the  country.  Of  these  and  other 
associations  I must  omit  further  mention,  for  want  of  space. 
The}'  each  perform  their  part  in  the  great  work,  and  will 
find  ample  scope  for  all  their  zeal  and  energy  in  the  conflict 
which  is  upon  us,  to  rescue  our  country  and  our  world. 

For  the  same  reason  I must  omit  all  detailed  description 
of  the  United  Temperance  Association,  which  covers  the 
Dominion  of  Canada,  as  do  the  United  Kingdom  Alliance, 
the  British  Temperance  League,  the  Scottish  Temperance 
League  and  the  Irish  Temperance  League  their  respective 
countries,  and  other  like  associations  in  all  the  civilized 
countries  and  provinces  of  the  earth.  They  all  are  at  work, 
and  all  have  more  than  enough  to  do.  But  the  hour  of 
redemption  eometk. 

POLITICAL  PARTIES  AND  THE  REFORM. 

The  political  parties  of  the  day  have  the  issue  between  man 
and  alcohol  to  meet.  The  evil  is  a mighty  fact;  resolutions 
will  not  remove  it,  although  good  to  begin  with.  There  is 
an  issue  because  there  is  an  evil,  and  the  issue  will  remain 
until  the  evil  is  triumphant  or  destroyed.  There  are  but 


500 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


two  sides  to  the  issue,  und  there  are  two  great  party  organi- 
zations. They  can  both  take  part  with  alcohol  against  man, 
or  one  of  them  for  alcohol  and  the  other  for  man,  or  both 
can  stand  for  man  as  against  his  great  enemy.  But  neither 
can  evade  the  issue  much  longer,  for  wherever  they  take  to 
concealment,  even  if  it  be  in  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth, 
the  issue  will  find  them  there.  It  has  found  them  both 
already,  and  they  will  never  escape  from  it  again  until  it  is 
settled.  If  they,  or  either  of  them,  choose  to  be  destroyed, 
the  opportunity  is  open,  and  an  alliance  with  the  cause  of 
intemperance,  or  an  attempted  evasion  of  the  issue,  will 
shatter  the  strongest  political  organization  'which  ever  ex- 
isted. New  parties  will  arise  when  old  ones  fail  to  promote 
the  public  good.  The  most  patient  and  long-enduring  pe  >ple 
will  tire  under  the  load  this  nation  has  carried,  lo  ! now 
these  hundred  years.  Political  action,  by  State  and  nation, 
is  indispensable  to  the  success  of  the  temperance  movement, 
to  the  victory  of  man  in  his  conflict  with  appetite  and  with 
an  accursed  trade  which  is  buttressed  in  all  the  fortifications 
of  sin,  defended  by  all  the  disciplined  enginery  of  the  bottom- 
less pit,  and  strengthened  with  billions  of  the  golden  sinews 
of  war. 

The  political  party  which  espouses  the  cause  of  alcohol 
must  defeat  both  God  and  man,  or  it  must  die.  No  matter 
how  pure  and  glorious  its  past  record,  there  is  no  political 
organization  in  existence  in  this  country  to-day  which  can 
uphold  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks  and  survive.  "What- 
ever party  shall  thus  prostitute  its  organization  will  soon 
perish  from  the  earth,  and  fortunate  will  it  be  for  its  memory 
that  it  can  rot. 

I write  from  the  stand-point  of  a Republican  who  would 
gladly  die  to  promote  the  good  of  his  party  when  he  can  do 
so  and  remain  a patriot,  but  who  also  realizes  that  to  him  no 
special  responsibility  or  prescience  is  given,  and  that  the 
whole  people  are  interested  as  well  as  he  to  be  right.  And 
because  the  people  are  becoming  informed,  and  when  informed 
will  be  right,  he  feels  sure  that  ere  long  the}'  will  destroy 
any  partv  organization  which  does  not  assist  to  " pulverize 
the  rum  power.” 

But  when  various  important  problems  concern  vitally  the 


THE  PEOPLE,  THROUGH  PARTY  OR  OVER  PARTY.  fiOl 


public  welfare,  and  all  are  connected  each  with  the  other,  no 
one  issue,  however  great,  no  one  "cause,”  hov. ever  good,  can 
isolate  itself  and  succeed  in  a party  which  has  no  occasion  to 
be  save  only  on  account  of  that  one.  A party  with  one 
plank  in  its  platform  may  destroy  existing  organizations, 
or  force  them  to  purchase  life  by  adopting  a neglected  issue 
the  consideration  of  which  the  public  welfare  demands.  But 
it  is  not  in  the  power  of  new  organizations  to  substitute 
themselves  at  pleasure  in  the  body-politic,  except  for  the 
mere  purposes  of  agitation  and  the  creation  of  opinion,  for 
parties  which  have  become  historic,  upon  which  have  become 
concentrated  the  interests,  affections  and  confidence  of  the 
people,  and  through  and  by  which  the  government  has  been 
administered,  and  the  nation  led  on  its  triumphant  career  of 
prosperity  and  glory. 

The  people  will  cling  to  their  old  associations  and  adhere 
to  their  tried  agencies  and  methods  until  compelled  to 
change  for  the  public  good.  But  the  people  will  not  wait 
forever.  While  we  lag  our  children  perish.  The  whole 
problem,  after  all,  is  in  the  answer  to  one  question  : In  what 
way  can  the  public  mind  be  most  readily  convinced,  and  the 
vote  of  a majority  obtained? 

That  is  a question  which  every  man  must,  and  which  I 
hope  every  woman  soon  may,  decide  in  the  forum  of  private 
conscience,  under  the  inspiration  of  the  largest  patriotism 
and  for  the  welfare  of  mankind. 

God  or  Baal ! which  ? 

I purposely  say  no  more  on  the  subject  in  this  book,  and 
as  nearly  four  years  ago,  at  the  Chicago  convention,  I warned 
the  party  to  which  I belong  of  impending  danger,  albeit 
without  avail,  so  I do  now  entreat  not  one  but  all  parties, 
and  the  whole  people,  to  rise  in  their  might,  and  by  sponta- 
neous, patriotic  and  righteous  action,  either  through  the 
parties  to  which  they  now  belong  or  in  new  organizations,  to 
remove  from  the  land  this  great  evil,  which  impartially  curses 
and  ruins  all  we  love  ; and  to  call  upon  mankind  eveiywhere 
to  join  with  them  in  its  extirpation  from  the  face  of  the 
earth. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 


THE  WOMAN’S  CHRISTIAN  TEMPERANCE  UNION. 

The  W.  C.  T.  U.  both  a Religious  and  Secular  Organization  — Exhorta- 
tion, Enlightenment,  Administration,  Charity — It  is  Woman  Or- 
ganized— Ten  Thousand  Local  Unions  — National  W.  C.  T.  U. — 
The  Woman’s  Crusade  — Dr.  Dio  Lewis — History  of  the  Crusade,  by 
Sarah  K.  Bolton — The  Story  of  the  Crusade  — Graphic  Incidents  — 
The  Woman’s  Crusade  becomes  the  Woman’s  Christian  Temperance 
Union  — The  Chautauqua  Meeting  — Mrs.  Annie  Wittenmyer,  Presi- 
dent— Cincinnati  First  Annual  Meeting,  1875  — Minneapolis  Annual 
Meeting,  1886  — Thirty  or  Forty  Departments  of  their  Temperance 
Activity  — Miss  Francis  E.  Willard  President  since  1879  — Depart- 
ment of  Organization  — Preventive  Department  — Educational  De- 
partment; Mrs.  Maiy  Hunt — Social  Department  — Legal  Depart- 
ment— The  World’s  W.  C.  T.  U.,  John  Bright’s  Sister  President  — 
Organizers  and  Superintendents  — The  Union  Signal  — Song  as  a 
Power  in  the  Work;  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Thompson,  Miss  Anna  Gordon 
— A Few  Names  of  Leaders. 

HE  Woman’s  Christian  Temperance  Union  is  now  the 


| leading  force  in  the  temperance  reform.  It  is  the 
greatest  exclusively  woman’s  association  that  exists,  or  ever 
has  existed,  in  the  world.  As  woman  and  woman’s  posses- 
sions—child,  husband,  home  — are  the  prey  of  alcohol,  it 
is  fitting  that  her  sex  should  organize  en  masse  for  defen- 
sive and  offensive  warfare  against  the  destroyer  of  all  that 
she  holds  dear.  The  W.  C.  T.  U.  is. both  a religious  and  a 
secular  organization.  In  this  respect  it  differs  from  any 
other  with  which  I am  acquainted.  It  can  do  anything  of 
which  God  will  approve,  within  the  powers  of  humanity,  to 
accomplish  its  great  end. 

It  can  preach  and  sing  psalms  ; it  can  watch  and  pray ; it 
can  lecture,  print,  and  raise  money;  it  can  command  all 
times  and  all  seasons  ; the  Sabbath  or  the  week  day,  there  is 
no  hour  when  its  work  is  not  in  order,  nor  in  which  it  is  not 
proceeding;  all  agencies  belong  to  it,  every  profession  and 
every  occupation  pay  it  tribute  when  the  Union  summons 
for  assistance  in  its  work  of  exhortation,  enlightenment, 
administration  and  charity.  As  woman  is  a part  and  force 


502 


THE  WOMAN’S  CHRISTIAN  TEMPERANCE  UNION.  503 


in  everything,  the  Union  seeks  to  utilize  all  that  she  is  or 
can  be  made  to  be,  and  all  that  she  can  appropriate  from  the 
world  around  her,  in  the  great  conflict  that  is  to  make  her 
free  indeed. 

There  are  ten  thousand  local  unions  in  this  country  ; forty- 
eight  which  embrace  these  local  unions,  each  having  juris- 
diction of  a State  or  Territory,  save  one  for  the  District  of 
Columbia.  The  whole  are  merged  in  the  National  Woman’s 
Christian  Temperance  Union,  with  two  hundred  thousand 
active  members,  who  have  also  become  the  great  raiding  and 
directing  force  of  church  action  for  the  cause  of  temperance 
in  this  country  ; and  already  existing,  expanding,  and  rising 
like  a city  of  palaces,  or  a universal  republic  in  the  air  rest- 
ing upon  the  pillars  of  the  earth,  is  the  Woman’s  Christian 
Temperance  Union  of  the  world. 

This  organization  is  the  death  of  the  liquor  traffic,  and  of 
its  associated  vices  and  crimes.  The  traffic  never  before  met 
such  a foe  as  educated,  organized  Christian  American  woman- 
hood. This  is  the  great  embarrassment  to  those  who  are 
engaged  in  it.  None  realize  as  they  do  the  certainty  of  its 
destruction.  They  feel  and  know  it  to  be  sure,  for  woman 
is  against  it,  and  you  will  be  told  by  any  candid  and  intelli- 
gent man  in  the  trade  that  he  believes,  for  this  reason,  if  for 
no  other,  the  traffic  to  be  doomed,  and  its  disappearance 
to  be  but  a question  of  comparatively  brief  time. 

The  advent  of  woman  upon  the  battle-field  has  planted  the 
bloody  ground  all  over  with  flowers  of  hope,  and  filled  the 
murky  air  with  the  ascending  incense  of  prayers  and  praise, 
which  are  answered  by  the  descending  balms  and  perfumes 
of  paradise.  It  is  a war  for  life  — not  against  it ; the  great 
enem3r  avc  seek  to  destroy  is  death. 

- The  Woman’s  Crusade  is  roav  the  Woman’s  Christian  Tem- 
perance Union.  The  Crusade  Avas  a miracle.  There  is  no 
precedent  for  it  in  history ; and,  as  I read  the  account  of  its 
birth  and  growth  and  career,  I am  impressed  Avith  the  feeling 
that  this  thing  Avas  supernatural.  Here  is  a neAv  force,  or 
an  old  one  operating  under  neAv  conditions,  impelled  and 
guided  by  a head  and  hand  that  I Avot  not  of.  It  has  not 
been  repeated.  There  does  not  seem  to  be  necessity  for  its 
repetition,  because  noAV  the  Woman’s  Christian  Temperance 


504 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


Union  is  abroad  in  the  world.  The  Union  can  perform  the 
field-work  of  the  Crusade  even  better  than  the  mother,  — but 
how  could  the  Union  ever  have  been  organized,  how  could  it 
have  come  to  exist  at  all,  but  for  a movement  like  the  Cru- 
sade? More  and  more  the  Crusade,  to  my  mind,  ceases  to 
be  primarily  an  assault  upon  the  liquor  traffic.  Was  it 
not  rather  a new  creation  which,  now  that  the  fullness  of 
time  had  come,  was  to  be  born  into  the  world,  and  were  not 
the  strange,  rapt  and  enthusiastic  labors,  in  which  man  took 
no  part,  save  only  as  an  attendant,  the  maternal  struggle  by 
which  the  Avhole  sex  brought  forth  a new  institution,  a 
woman  force,  which  should  be  perpetual,  and  should  work 
out  the  higher,  the  supreme  life  of  the  womanhood  of  the 
future?  I feel  sure  that  this  institution  is  as  permanent  as  the 
church ; its  work  will  never  be  done,  because  it  turns  its 
hand  to  everything  which  improves  the  nature  and  promotes 
the  happiness  of  the  race,  assailing  and  destroying  first  that 
which  injures  most. 

Such  an  institution  will  wax  more  and  more  unto  the  per- 
fect day,  when  the  finer  and  more  spiritual  powers  of  woman 
shall  be  the  directing  influence  to  elevate  both  sexes  to 
higher  standards  of  conduct  and  to  more  abundant  fruitions 
of  a better  life. 

Dr.  Dio  Lewis  Avas  one  of  a family  of  five  children,  whose 
pious  mother  defended  her  little  brood  as  best  she  could 
against  the  rum  demon  Avhich  dwelt  in  a saloon  hard  by, 
Avhere  the  husband  and  father  devoted  soul,  body  and  sub- 
stance to  destruction,  and  his  family  to  abuse,  starvation 
and  despair.  But  that  mother  Avouhl  not  despair;  and  she, 
Avith  a few  other  Avomen,  surrounded  the  saloon-keeper, 
turned  his  den  for  a time  into  a house  of  prayer,  and  be- 
sought him  to  abandon  the  business  Avhich  Avas  destroying 
their  homes.  They  Avere  successful.  Forty  years  later, 
Mr.  Lewis,  Avho  had  become  an  eminent  educator,  was 
speaking  in  a small  town  in  Ohio  upon  the  subject  of  tem- 
perance. Relating  this  incident  of  his  early  life,  lie  requested 
all  Avho  Avould  follow  the  example  of  his  mother  to  rise.  It 
is  said  that  the  Avhole  congregation  l'ose.  At  once  a meet- 
ing Avas  appointed  to  be  held  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  the 
next  morning.  Dr.  LeAvis  Avas  a guest  at  the  mansion  of 


Mrs.  R.  J.  Thompson , 

Mother  of  the  Crusade. 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  WOMAN’S  CRUSADE. 


505 


Ex-Governor  Trimble,  the  father  of  Mrs.  E.  J.  Thompson, 
the  wife  of  Judge  James  Ii.  Thompson  of  Hillsboro,  Ohio, 
one  of  the  leading  lawyers  of  the  State.  Mrs.  Thompson  is 
a highly  accomplished,  devoted,  Christian  woman,  the 
mother  of  eight  children. 

I must  quote  the  facts  mainly  from  the  history  of  the  Cru- 
sade written  by  Mrs.  Sarah  Iv.  Bolton,  and  published  in 
the  centennial  volume  of  1876,  who  was  a principal  part 
of  the  wonderful  stoiy  she  relates.  Mrs.  Thompson  was 
not  present  at  the  lecture  of  the  evening  of  December  23, 
by  Dr.  Lewis,  but  was  "prepared,”  as  she  herself  writes, 
" ' as  those  who  watch  for  the  morning,’  for  the  first  gray 
light  upon  this  dark  night  of  sorrow.  Few  comments  were 
made  in  our  house  upon  this  new  line  of  policy,  until  after 
breakfast  the  next  morning,  when,  just  as  we  gathered  about 
the  hearth-stone,  my  daughter  Mary  said,  very  gently, 
'Mother,  will  you  go  to  the  meeting  this  morning?’  Hesi- 
tatingly I replied : ‘ I don’t  know  yet  what  I shall  do.’ 
My  husband,  fully  appreciating  the  responsibility  of  the 
moment,  said : ' Children,  let  us  leave  your  mother  alone  ; 
for  you  know  where  she  goes  with  all  vexed  questions,’  and, 
pointing  to  the  old  family  Bible,  left  the  room.  The  awful 
responsibility  of  the  step  that  I must  needs  next  take  was 
Avonderfully  relieved  by  the  thought  of  the  'cloudy  pillar’ 
and  ' parted  waters  ’ of  the  past;  hence,  with  confidence,  I 
was  about  turning  my  eye  of  faith  'up  to  the  hills’  from 
whence  had  come  my  help,  when,  in  response  to  a gentle  tap 
at  my  door,  I met  my  dear  Mary,  who , with  her  Bible  in  her 
hand,  and  tearful  eyes,  said  'Mother,  I opened  to  the  146th 
Psalm,  and  I believe  it  is  for  you.’  She  withdrew,  and  I 
sat  down  to  read  the  wonderful  message  from  God.  As  I 
read  what  I had  so  often  read  before,  the  spirit  so  strangely 
'took  of  the  things  of  God,’  and  showed  me  new  meaning, 
I no  longer  hesitated,  but,  on  the  strength  thus  imparted, 
started  to  the  scene  of  action:” 

This  is  the  Psalm  that  she  read  : 

“Praise  ye  the  Lord.  Praise  the  Lord,  O my  soul. 

“While  I live  will  I praise  the  Lord  : I will  sing  praises  unto 
my  God  while  I have  any  being. 


506 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


“ Put  not  your  trust  in  princes,  nor  in  the  son  of  man,  in  whom 
there  is  no  help. 

“His  breath  goeth  forth,  he  returneth  to  his  earth;  in  that 
very  day  his  thoughts  perish. 

“ Happy  is  he  that  hath  the  God  of  Jacob  for  his  help,  whose 
hope  is  in  the  Lord  his  God  : 

“Which  made  heaven,  and  earth,  the  sea,  and  all  that  therein 
is : Avhich  lceepeth  truth  forever : 

“Which  executeth  judgment  for  the  oppressed : which  giveth 
food  to  the  hungry.  The  Lord  looseth  the  prisoners: 

“ The  Lord  openeth  the  eyes  of  the  blind:  the  Lord  raiseth 
them  that  are  bowed  down  : the  Lord  loveth  the  righteous: 

“The  Lord  preserveth  the  strangers;  he  relieveth  the  father- 
less and  Avidow:  but  the  way  of  the  wicked  he  turneth  upside 
down. 

“ The  Lord  shall  reign  forever,  even  thy  God,  O Zion,  unto  all 
generations.  Praise  ye  the  Lord.” 

The  Crusade  was  born.  The  Mother  of  it  proceeds : 

“ Upon  entering  the  church,  I was  startled  to  find  myself  chosen 
their  leader.  The  old  Bible  was  taken  from  the  desk,  and  the 
146th  Psalm  Avas  read.  Mrs.  Gen.  McDowell,  by  request,  led  in 
prayer,  and,  although  she  had  ne\rer  before  heard  her  own  Aroice  in 
a public  prayer,  on  this  occasion  the  ‘tongue  of  fire’  sat  upon  her, 
and  all  were  deeply  affected.  Mrs.  Cowden,  our  Methodist  min- 
ister’s Avife,  Avas  then  requested  to  sing  a familiar  air : 

“ ‘ Give  to  the  winds  thy  fears, 

Hope  and  be  undismayed: 

God  hears  thy  sighs  and  counts  thy  tears: 

He  Avill  lift  up  thy  head.’ 

and,  whilst  thus  engaged,  the  women  (seventy-five  in  number) 
fell  in  line,  tAvo  and  tAvo,  and  proceeded  first  to  the  drug-stores 
and  then  to  the  hotels  and  saloons.” 

Oh  ! Mother  of  the  Woman’s  Crusade  ! But  one  mother 
ever  bore  greater  blessing  to  this  heart-broken  Avorld — and 
the  Crusade  Avas  the  child  of  inspiration  too  ! For  more 
than  six  months  this  sacred  band  visited  the  saloons  almost 
daity.  The  incidents  Avhich  folloAV  I select  from  Mrs.  Bol- 
ton’s history,  Avhich  is  intensely  interesting,  and  I am  sorry 
that  I am  obliged,  by  unavoidable  condensation,  to  omit  so 
much. 


THE  WOMAN’S  CRUSADE. 


507 


“One  man,  a druggist,  selling  illegally,  and  refusing  to  discon- 
tinue, ‘ a tabernacle  ’ was  built  in  front  of  his  store,  where,  day 
after  day,  the  women  held  a continuous  prayer-meeting  from 
early  morning  till  late  at  night.  An  injunction  was  procured  by 
him,  through  the  courts,  and  the  women  sued  for  $10,000  dam- 
ages, resulting  in  good,  because  it  arrested  the  attention  of  the 
•entire  country.  This  delayed  the  street  work,  as  the  women  did 
not  desire  to  defy  the  law,  but  other  temperance  work  was  act- 
ively engaged  in.” 

Immediately  the  women  organized  in  Washington  Court 
House,  an  adjoining  town,  led  by  Mrs.  M.  G.  Carpenter, 
who  drew  up  an  appeal,  which  was  also  used  much  in  other 
States.  Mrs.  M.  V.  Ustick,  the  secretary,  writes  as  fol- 
lows : 

“ The  following  morning,  after  an  hour  of  prayer,  forty-four 
women  hied  slowly  and  solemnly  down  the  aisle,  and  started  forth 
on  their  strange  mission  with  fear  and  trembling,  while  the  male 
portion  of  the  audience  remained  at  the  church  to  pray  for  the 
success  of  this  new  undertaking — the  tolling  of  the  church  bell 
keeping  time  to  the  solemn  march  of  the  women  as  they  wended 
their  way  to  the  first  drug-store  on  the  list  (the  number  of  places 
within  the  city  limits  where  intoxicating  drinks  were  sold  was 
fourteen  — eleven  saloons  and  three  drug-stores).  Here,  as  in 
every  place,  they  entered  singing,  every  woman  taking  up  the 
sacred  strain  as  she  crossed  the  threshold.  This  was  followed 
by  the  reading  of  the  appeal  and  prayer;  then  earnest  pleading  to 
desist  from  their  soul-destroying  traffic  and  to  sign  the  dealers’ 
pledge.  Thus,  all  day  long,  going  from  place  to  place,  without 
stopping  even  for  dinner  or  lunch,  till  five  o’clock,  meeting  with 
no  marked  success,  but  invariable  courtesy  extended  to  them. 
The  next  day  an  increased  number  of  women  went  forth,  leaving 
the  men  in  church,  in  prayer,  all  day  long.  On  this  day  the  con- 
test really  began,  and  at  the  first  place  the  doors  were  found 
locked.  With  hearts  full  of  compassion,  the  women  knelt  in  the 
snow  upon  the  pavement,  to  plead  for  the  divine  influence  upon 
the  heart  of  the  liquor-dealer,  and  there  held  their  first  street 
prayer-meeting. 

“There  was  a long  resistance,  but  finally  the  liquor-dealer  sur- 
rendered his  stock  of  liquors  of  every  kind  and  variety  to  the 
women,  in  answer  to  their  prayers  and  entreaties,  and  it  was  by 
them  poured  into  the  street.  Nearly  a thousand  men,  women 
and  children  witnessed  the  mingling  of  beer,  ale,  wine  and  whisky 


508 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


as  they  filled  the  gutters  and  were  drunk  up  by  the  earth,  while 
bells  were  ringing,  men  and  boys  shouting,  and  women  singing 
and  praying  to  God,  who  had  given  the  victory. 

“On  the  fourth  day  the  campaign  reached  its  height — the  town 
being  filled  with  visitors  from  all  parts  of  the  country  and  adjoin- 
ing villages.  Another  public  surrender  and  pouring  into  the 
street  of  a larger  stock  of  liquors  than  on  the  previous  day,  and 
more  intense  excitement  and  enthusiasm.  In  eight  days  all  the 
saloons,  eleven  in  number,  had  been  closed,  and  the  three  drug- 
stores pledged  to  sell  only  on  prescription.” 

This  was  a complete  victory  over  the  local  liquor  power  — 
but  the  end  was  not  yet.  The  organized  capital  and  personal 
combinations  behind  now  came  to  the  rescue  of  their  endan- 
gered craft. 


“Early  in  the  third  week  the  discouraging  intelligence  came 
that  a new  man  had  taken  out  license  to  sell  liquor  in  one  of  the 
deserted  saloons,  and  that  he  was  backed  by  a whisky  house  in 
Cincinnati,  to  the  amount  of  §5000,  to  break  down  this  movement. 
On  Wednesday,  the  14th,  the  whisky  was  unloaded  at  his  room. 
About  forty  women  were  on  the  ground,  and  followed  the  liquor 
in,  and  remained  holding  an  uninterrupted  prayer-meeting  all  day 
and  until  eleven  o’clock  at  night. 

“The  next  day  — bitterly  cold  — was  spent  in  the  same  place 
and  manner,  without  fire  or  chairs,  two  hours  of  that  time  the 
women  being  locked  in,  while  the  proprietor  was  off  attending  a 
trial. 

“On  the  following  day,  the  coldest  of  all  the  winter  of  1874,  the 
women  were  locked  out,  and  stood  on  the  street,  holding  religious 
services  all  day  long.  Next  morning  a ‘tabernacle’  was  built  in 
the  street,  just  in  front  of  the  house,  and  was  occupied  for  the 
double  purpose  of  watching  and  prayer,  through  the  day;  but 
before  night  the  sheriff  closed  the  saloon,  and  the  proprietor  sur- 
rendered. 

“A  short  time  after,  on  a dying  bed,  this  four-days  liquor 
dealer  sent  for  some  of  these  women,  telling  them  their  songs  and 
prayers  had  never  ceased  to  ring  in  his  ears,  and  urging  them  to 
pray  again  in  his  behalf ; so  he  passed  away.” 

Such  was  the  nature  of  the  work.  No  one  will  say  that 
this  was  an  ordinary  manifestation  of  the  working  of  human 
nature.  Contemplate  it  as  we  will,  search  for  precedents 
and  historical  parallels  as  we  may  — and  there  are  none  of 


THE  WOMAN’S  CRUSADE. 


509 


which  I have  any  knowledge.  The  movement  rapidly  spread 
through  many  States.  "In  Waynesburg,  where  there  had 
been  open  saloons  for  seventy-six  years,  every  one  was 
closed.”  In  Xenia,  a city  of  10,000  people,  after  a long 
struggle,  in  which  wholesale  dealers  were  present  urging 
resistance,  and  offering  capital  and  liquor  free  of  cost,  "hour 
after  hour,  the  women,  keeping  guard  on  three  sides  of  the 
house,  continued  their  singing  and  praying.”  At  last  human 
nature  could  resist  no  longer,  the  keeper  yielded,  "and,  amid 
the  ringing  of  church-bells,  and  the  laughing  and  crying, 
singing  and  thanksgiving  of  the  people,  barrels  of  beer, 
whisky  and  brandy  were  poured  together  into  the  streets. 
He  at  once  opened  a meat  market,  and  was  well  patronized.” 

In  Bellefontaine,  a large  dealer  threatened  to  shoot  the 
women  if  he  was  disturbed  — there  was  a great  fight  with 
him  and  his  men  — but  after  a week  he  “ made  his  appear- 
ance at  a mass  meeting,  signed  the  pledge,  and  the  following 
Sabbath  attended  church  — the  first  time  in  five  years.”  In 
Ctyde,  the  proprietor  of  a large  saloon  informed  the  band 
that  he  would  spill  the  last  drop  of  his  blood  for  his  liquor 
and  his  trade,  and  threw  a pail  of  water  upon  the  head  of 
the  one  who  was  praying. 

“ Without  stopping  an  instant,  she  said,  ‘ O Lord,  we  are 
now  baptized  for  the  work.’  The  effect  was  magical.  All 
were  quiet,  and  the  victory  was  complete.  The  saloon- 
keeper went  with  them  to  church,  where  the  most  earnest 
prayers  were  offered  for  him.” 

In  the  larger  places  — the  cities  — the  work  was  more 
difficult;  but  much  was  accomplished  even  there.  In  Cincin- 
nati, forty-three  devoted  women  were  lodged  in  jail  for 
obstructing  the  sidewalks.  While  there  they  went  about 
doing  good  among  the  other  prisoners.  They  conquered  in 
Cleveland,  but  not  without  being  subjected  to  insult  and 
violence  ; some  even  lost  their  lives  from  exposure. 

It  will  be  impossible  to  give  more  of  detail  of  the  Crusade 
either  in  Ohio  or  in  Indiana,  Illinois,  Wisconsin,  Iowa, 
Nebraska,  Kansas,  California,  Oregon,  New  York,  Pennsyl- 
vania, Massachusetts,  Maryland  and  the  South,  in  all  which 
States  it  greatly  prevailed.  Nor  is  it  necessary. 

I wish  to  call  attention  to  the  events  and  the  state  of  mind 


510 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


in  which  the  people  were  when  the  Woman’s  Christian  Tem- 
perance Union  was  formed,  and  but  for  which  such  an  organ- 
ization would  have  been  as  impossible  as  to  have  organized 
the  government  of  the  United  States  without  its  being  pre- 
ceded by  the  Revolutionary  war. , '/In  this  great  moral  com- 
motion woman  escaped  and  learned  her  power.  You  will 
never  caire  her  ap-ain.  Enthusiasm  is  but  an  intermittent 

O O 

spring  or  spouting  ge3rser,  and,  after  a few  months  of  tidal- 
wave-like  activity,  which  swept  away  indeed  all  movable 
structures,  and,  as  water  will,  developed  the  symptoms  of 
hydrophobia  in  the  liquor  traffic,  the  Crusaders  found  that 
intemperance  was  a part  of  the  solid  continent  itself  ; that 
the  foundations  of  its  empire  were  interblended  with  the  set- 
tled habits  of  the  people,  and  with  the  customs,  constitutions 
and  laws  of  the  republic;  that  the  Crusaders  were,  in  fact, 
contending  with  2,eolo£rical  formations,  and  must  remove 
the  foundations  of  the  everlasting  hills.  And  what  wei'e 
these  gentle  women,  after  all,  with  their  prayers  and  psalms 
and  tears  and  ribbons?  Certainly  they  wei-e  as  valiant  as 
ever.  They  still  had  flags  and  sacred  fury,  and  they  had 
conquered  and  converted  the  saloon-keeper.  But  the  trade 
did  not  cease.  There  seemed  to  be  inexhaustible  supplies, 
which  came  in  at  every  point  and  moment  of  relaxation.  In 
fact,  the  Crusade  had  come  to  solid  rock,  which  cared  no- 
more  for  them  than  the  Roclcp  Mountains  care  for  the  sum- 
mer rain.  And  so  these  isolated  groups  of  armed  women 
stood  all  over  the  country,  amazed  and  looking  up  ; and.  as. 
they  gazed,  the  Spirit  of  Organization  descended  upon  them 
and  filled  the  whole  place. 

The  Woman’s  Crusade  was  now  the  Woman’s  Christian 
Temperance  Union. 

Early  in  the  year  1874,  the  women  in  several  of  the  cru- 
sading States  called  conventions  and  organized  temperance 
leagues.  In  August,  the  first  National  Sunday-School  Con- 
vention was  held,  at  Chautauqua  Lake.  The  same  kind  of 
people  were  there  that  were  engaged  in  the  Crusade,  and, 
during  the  progress  of  this  Sunda^y-school  convention,  sev- 
eral temperance  meetings  were  held,  and  the  women  were 
moved  to  undertake  the  crystallization  of  the  Crusade  into  a 


Miss  Frances  E.  I Vi/ lard, 

President  National  IF.  C.  T.  U. 


TI1E  AVOMAN’s  CHRISTIAN  TEMPERANCE  UNION.  511 


permanent  force  by  its  nationalization.  They  created  a com- 
mittee of  organization,  and  issued  an  address,  signed  by 
Jennie  F.  Willing,  chairman,  and  Emily  Huntington  Miller, 
secretary,  of  the  Chautauqua  meeting.  I quote  a portion  of 
this  important  instrument : 

“ Many  of  the  most  earnest  workers  in  the  woman’s 

temperance  movement,  from  different  parts  of  the  Union  and 
different  denominations  of  Christians,  were  present,  and  the  con- 
viction was  general  that  a more  favorable  opportunity  would  not 
soon  be  presented  for  taking  the  preliminary  steps  toward  organ- 
izing a national  league,  to  make  permanent  the  grand  work  of  the 
last  few  months.  After  much  deliberation  and  prayer,  a commit- 
tee of  organization  was  appointed,  consisting  of  one  lady  from 
each  State,  to  interest  temperance  workers  in  this  effort.  A 
national  convention  was  appointed  to  be  held  in  Cleveland,  Ohio, 
during  the  month  of  November,  the  exact  date  to  be  fixed  by  the 
committee  of  organization.  The  chairman  and  secretary  of  the 
Chautauqua  meeting  were  authorized  to  issue  a circular  letter,  ask- 
ing the  Woman’s  Temperance  Leagues  to  hold  conventions  for  the 
purpose  of  electing  one  woman  from  each  Congressional  district  as 
a delegate  to  the  Cleveland  convention. 

“ It  is  hardly  necessary  to  remind  those  who  have  worked  so 
nobly  in  the  grand  temperance  uprising  that  in  union  and  organ- 
ization are  its  success  and  permanence,  and  the  consequent  redemp- 
tion of  this  land  from  the  curse  of  intemperance. 

“In  the  name  of  our  Master  — in  behalf  of  the  thousand^  of 
women  who  suffer  from  this  terrible  evil  — we  call  upon  all  to 
unite  in  an  earnest,  continued  effort  to  hold  the  ground  already 
won,  and  move  onward  together  to  a complete  victory  over  the 
foes  we  fight.” 

I quote  now  from  Miss  Willard : 

“The  convention  was  held  in  Cleveland  November  18,  19,  20, 
1874,  and  was  attended  by  delegates  representing  sixteen  States. 

A constitution  was  adopted,  also  a plan  of  organization 

intended  to  reach  every  hamlet,  town  and  city  in  the  land.  There 
was  a declaration  of  principles,  of  which  Christianity  alone  could 
have  furnished  the  animus.  An  appeal  to  the  women  of  our  coun- 
try was  provided  for  ; another  to  the  girls  of  America  ; a third  to 
lands  beyond  the  sea  ; a memorial  to  Congress  was  ordered,  and  a 
deputation  to  carry  it  appointed  ; a national  temperance  paper,  to 
be  edited  and  published  by  women,  was  agreed  upon,  also  a finan- 


512 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


ci.al  plan,  asking  a cent  a week  from  members  ; and  last,  not  least, 
was  appointed  a special  committee  on  temperance  work  among 
•children.  Four  large  mass  meetings  were  held  during  the  con- 
vention, all  of  them  addressed  by  women,  though  the  chief  meet- 
ings were  held  in  a Presbyterian  church,*  as  was  the  convention 
itself.  Mrs.  Annie  Wittenmyer  of  Philadelphia  was  elected  pres- 
ident ; Miss  Frances  E.  Willard  of  Chicago,  corresponding  sec- 
retary ; Mrs.  Mary  C.  Johnson  of  Brooklyn,  recording  secretary  ; 
Mrs.  Mary  A.  Ingham  of  Cleveland,  treasurer ; with  one  vice- 
president  from  each  State  represented  in  the  convention.” 

These  names  are  now  well  known  not  only  in  our  own 
land,  but  in  other  lands,  and  are  as  immortal  as  those  of  the 
fathers  of  the  republic. 

The  spirit  of  the  convention  was  thus  voiced  by  "a  promi- 
nent member,”  Miss  Willard,  I suppose  : 

"Woman  is  ordained  to  lead  the  vanguard  of  this  great 
movement,  until  the  American  public  is  borne  across  the 
abysmal  transition  from  the  superstitious  notion  that  'alcohol 
is  food,’  to  the  scientific  fact  that  alcohol  is  poison,  from  the 
pusillanimous  concession  that  intemperance  is  a great  evil,  to 
the  responsible  conviction  that  the  liquor  traffic  is  a crime.” 

The  word  " league  ” soon  disappeared  in  " union.”  After 
passing  the  following  wonderful  resolution,  which  every 
member  seems  to  know  by  heart,  and  with  which  they  con- 
jure all  "difficulties  and  dangers,”  and  "conquer  a peace” 
with  everybody,  including  themselves,  if  there  be  occasion 
for  it,  the  convention  adjourned ; and  the  Woman's  Christian 
Temperance  Union  entered  upon  its  great  career: 

“ Resolved,  That,  recognizing  the  fact  that  our  cause  is  and  is 
to  be  combated  by  mighty,  determined  and  relentless  forces,  we 
will,  trusting  in  Him  who  is  the  Prince  of  Peace,  meet  argument 
with  argument,  misjudgment  with  patience,  denunciation  with 
kindness,  and  all  our  difficulties  and  dangers  with  prayer.” 

The  first  annual  meeting  of  the  Union  was  held  in 
Cincinnati,  November  17,  18,  19,  1875.  Delegates  from 
twenty-two  States  furnished  their  credentials.  Just  read  the 
following  embodiment  of  what  these  women  were  doing,  and 
of  their  own  conception  of  the  greatness  and  sublimity  of 


* That  cradle  ought  to  be  kept  in  the  family. 


THE  W.  C.  T.  U.  CINCINNATI  ANNUAL  MEETING.  513 


their  work.  It  is  the  opening  of  the  first  annual  report  of 
INIiss  Willard,  the  corresponding  secretary  : 

“ To-day  we  reach  a milestone  in  our  slow  but  steadfast  march 
toward  victory.  On  this  sacred  battle-ground  of  the  Crusade,  the 
procession  of  States  pauses  for  roll-call.  In  stately  senate  cham- 
ber and  on  heroic  field,  their  dear  familiar  names,  ‘ from  Maine  to 
California,’  have  thrilled  the  ears  of  patriots  in  the  glorious  days 
of  old.  The  hurrying  crowd  would  smile  to  hear  it  said  — if  indeed 
the  utterance  should  gain  its  ear  at  all  — that  never  did  the  sister- 
hood of  States  pass  in  review  on  an  occasion  more  full  of  inspira- 
tion and  hope  than  at  this  quiet  hour  and  in  this  solemn  place, 
■where,  for  the  sake  of  cross  and  flag,  we  meet  to  pray.  But  his- 
tory shall  yet  bear  witness  that  the  enthusiasm  of  the  prediction 
has  crystallized  into  the  blessed  fact  of  its  fulfillment.  We  first 
call 

MAINE, 

■which  long  ago  achieved  for  its  time-honored  motto,  ‘ I direct,’ 
the  proud  significance  of  leading  where  the  Union  shall  yet  follow, 
into  the  safe  harbor  of  prohibitory  law.” 

And  so  she  proceeds  with  the  roll-call,  giving  a sketch  of 
the  work  in  each  State  during  the  year.  At  this  meet- 
ing, the  following  resolution  was  adopted.  Such  things  — 
and  worse  — will  continue  to  happen  unless  women  are  again 
chained.  But  it  is  not  as  bad  or  heterodox  as  were  similar 
demands  by  men  a century  and  a quarter  ago.  Political 
freedom  consists  in  permitting  to  all  who  are  fitted  to  exer- 
cise it  his  or  her  aliquot  part  of  that  sovereignty  which, 
under  the  divine-right  rule,  we  now  vest  in  men  only 
(pretty  tough  custodians  of  a divine  right  they  are,  many 
of  them  ; but  it  is  better  that  they  all  have  it)  and  which, 
in  despotic  governments,  is,  by  a still  more  grievous  theft, 
vested  in  one  man  alone. 

“ Resolved  finally , That,  whereas  women  are  the  greatest 
sufferers  from  the  liquor  traffic,  and  realizing  that  it  is  to  be 
ultimately  suppressed  by  means  of  the  ballot,  we,  the  Christian 
women  of  the  land,  in  convention  assembled,  do  pray  Almighty 
God,  and  all  true  men,  that  the  question  of  the  prohibition  of  the' 
liquor  traffic  should  be  submitted  to  all  the  adult  citizens  of  this 
country,  irrespective  of  sex,  not  as  a means  of  enlarging  our 

33 


514 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


rights  or  of  antagonizing  the  sexes,  but  as  a means  of  protecting 
ourselves,  our  children  and  homes,  from  the  ravages  of  the  rum 
power.” 


And  that  appeal  was  made  twelve  years  ago.  There  has 
never  been  a moment  since  when  woman’s  ballot  would  not 
have  destroyed  the  rum  traffic,  and  ended  all  this  tremen- 
dous conflict  which  engrosses  heaven  and  earth  and  hell  at  a 
blow.  Yet  nowhere  has  woman  voted  on  the  question. 
Statesmen,  philanthropists,  clergymen,  priests  and  jurists, 
men  generally,  hesitate,  but  the  producer  and  consumer  of 
strong  drink  do  not  hesitate.  Avarice,  ignorance  and 
drunkenness  know  what  would  destroy  them ; and  these 
"sovereigns”  still  dominate  in  nation,  state  and  municipal- 
ity— still  drag  civilization  and  Christianity  and  the  "angel 
sex”' — "dear,  lovely  woman,”  as  they  are  pleased  to  call 
her  — at  the  chariot  wheels  of  rum’s  Juggernaut. 

This  is  not  a history;  if  it  were,  volumes,  instead  of 
pages,  should  be  given  to  the  Woman’s  Christian  Temperance 
Union.  It  is  now  thirteen  years  since  its  organization.  They 
have  been  years  of  extraordinary  enthusiasm,  expansion  and 
success.  I have  before  me  the  minutes  of  the  last  annual 
meeting,  which  was  held  in  Minneapolis  from  October  22  to 
27,  1886.  A volume  larger  than  this,  and  full  of  tersely 
expressed  and  valuable  matter  to  the  bursting,  describing  the 
work  and  progress  of  the  Union  for  a single  year. 

Twenty-two  large,  closely  printed  pages  are  occupied  by 
the  mere  list  of  the  names  of  the  superintendents  of  the  vari- 
ous branches  of  work  in  the  States,  each  superintendent  hav- 
ing an  allotted  subject  or  branch  of  labor,  and  often  requiring 
assistance  in  the  discharge  of  the  duty  of  superintendence. 
On  one  page  I count  the  names  of  forty-three  superintend- 
ents. To  give  an  idea  of  the  work  itself,  read  the  list  of 
subjects  over  which  the  Union  takes  jurisdiction  in  the  State 
of  Ohio.  For  each  there  is  a superintendent,  but  I omit  the 
name  for  want  of  space. 

Juvenile  work,  Sunday-school  work,  Scientific  Temperance 
Instruction,  Sabbath  Observance,  Legislative  work,  Young 
Women’s  work,  Bible  Readings,  Evangelistic  work  among 
Railroad  Employees,  Efforts  to  induce  Corporations  to  re- 


THE  W.  C.  T.  U.  — DEPARTMENTS. 


515 


quire  Total  Abstinence  in  their  Employees,  Friendly  Inns, 
Flower  Mission,  Woman’s  Exchange,  Prison  and  Police  work, 
Health  and  Heredity,  Unfermented  Wine  on  Lord’s  Table, 
Department  of  Statistics,  work  among  Colored  People,  State 
and  County  Fairs,  Conference  with  Ecclesiastical,  Educa- 
tional, Medical  and  other  bodies,  Franchise,  Suppression  of 
Impure  Literature,  Railroad  Rates,  Agent  for  Union  Signal 
and  Memorial  Book,  Parlor  Meetings,  Relative  Statistics, 
Literature,  Peace,  Social  Purity.  Every  State  and  Territory 
is  organized,  with  president,  secretary  and  other  officers,  a 
large  number  with  about  the  same  division  of  work  as  in 
Ohio,  and  all  of  them  so  as  to  bring  to  bear  the  power  of  the 
Union  for  the  good  of  the  people,  in  almost  every  way  in 
which  that  good  can  be  promoted,  and  all  striking  home 
directly  at  intemperance  and  social  vice.  Nor  is  the  work 
reformatory  alone  ; it  is  far  more  preventive  and  creative. 
It  begins  with  the  dawn  of  new  life  and  guards  the  genera- 
tions  as  they  rise. 

All  this  work  in  the  States  and  Territoi’ies,  with  the  exte- 
rior and  foreign  relations  of  the  Union,  is  under  the  general 
control  of  the  national  organization,  the  headquarters  of 
which  are  in  New  York  and  Chicago.  Of  the  national 
organization  Miss  Frances  E.  Willard  has  been  president 
since  the  retirement  of  Mrs.  Wittenmyer,  who,  with  great 
zeal,  vigor  and  success,  held  this  exacting  and  responsible 
office  during  the  first  five  years  of  its  existence.  Mrs.  Caro- 
line B.  Buell  is  corresponding  secretary,  Mrs.  Mary  A. 
Woodbridge  recording  secretary,  Mrs.  L.  M.  N.  Stevens 
assistant  recording  secretary,  and  Miss  Esther  Pugh  is  treas- 
urer. It  is  safe  to  say  that  these  five  women  perform  as 
much  labor,  probably  more  than  has  been  done  by  the 
President  and  Cabinet  of  any  national  administration  ; and 
who  shall  dare  to  say  that,  with  the  exception  of  the  great 
emergencies  which  involved  national  existence,  their  work 
has  not  been  as  important  for  the  welfare  of  mankind,  and 
that  it  has  not  been  performed  "with  as  much  ability  as  the 
work  of  any  administration  in  our  history.  The  work  of  the 
National  Woman’s  Christian  Temperance  Union  is  divided 
into  departments,  each  of  which  has  a superintendent,  and 
sometimes  several. 


516 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


I.  Department  of  Organization.  — Superintendents,  Miss 
Willard  and  Mrs.  Caroline  B.  Buell.  Work  in  the  Southern 
States,  Mrs.  Sallie  F.  Chapin,  who  is  at  the  South  what  Miss 
Willard  is  at  the  Forth,  and  who  has  done  as  much  to  pro- 
mote peace  in  the  hearts  of  an  estranged  people  as  any  single 
personal  influence  of  our  time.  Then,  there  is  a corps  of 
organizers,  consisting  of  eight  women,  located  at  proper 
points  throughout  the  country  : three  national  lecturers  ; then, 
" Reconnoissance  for  World’s  W.  C.  T.  U.,”  by  Mrs.  Mary 
Clement  Leavitt,  who  just  now  sends  a message  from  Ilan- 
goon.  A year  since  she  had  travelled  more  than  twenty- 
seven  thousand  miles,  besides  frequently  unnoted  distances, 
about  her  Master’s  business,  had  held  493  meetings,  forming 
unions  and  interviewing  rulers  or  writing  to  them,  and  hav- 
ing been  refused  audiences  in  but  two  instances  — by  the 
Empress  of  Japan  and  by  the  royal  governor  of  Tasmania  — 
one  a heathen.  I am  in  doubt  about  the  other,  but  both 
refused  to  entertain  an  angel  unawares.  Mrs.  Leavitt  will 
soon  reach  Africa.  She  is  belting  the  clobe  with  sisrnal-sta- 
tions  of  heavenly  light.  Such  a voyage  is  an  era  in  mari- 
time affairs,  and  will  accomplish  more  for  the  honor  and 
glory  of  our  country,  and  for  the  good  of  man,  than  to 
rebuild  a navy  by  the  expenditure  of  hundreds  of  millions 
of  gold,  and  exhibit  our  flag  and  our  emblems  of  destruction 
in  every  port  of  the  world. 

Next  comes  Work  among  Foreign-Speaking  People,  with 
two  superintendents  and  assistants,  among  Germans,  Scandi- 
navians, Hollanders,  Chinese,  Poles  and  Spaniards.  Then 
Work  among  Colored  People  Forth.  Then  Young  Women’s 
Work,  of  which  it  is  to  be  said  that  it  is  not  only  most  effi- 
cient for  the  actual  work  of  to-day  in  all  departments  — but 
here  is  the  Woman’s  Christian  Temperance  Union  of  the 
future,  the  W.  C.  T.  U.  in  perpetuam,  as  the  lawyers  say. 
It  is  the  training-school,  the  recruiting-ground  of  the  army, 
of  which  Mrs.  Frances  J.  Barnes  is  the  indefatigable  and 
efficient  superintendent.  A department  organizer,  the  Juve- 
nile Work  and  Chalk  Talker,  this  completes  the  divisions  of 
the  Department  of  Organization. 

II.  Preventive  Department.  — Divisions  : Heredity,  Dr. 
Mary  Weeks  Burnett,  superintendent;  Health,  Dr.  Bessie 


Mrs.  Mary  A.  Woodbridge, 

Recording  Secretary,  National  IV.  C.  T.  U. 


THE  W.  C.  T.  U.  — EDUCATIONAL  DEPARTMENT. 


517 


F.  Cushman,  superintendent;  Day  Nurseries,  Miss  Ellen 
Hood,  superintendent;  — two  able  physicians  in  this  depart- 
ment. 

HI.  Educational  Department. — Divisions:  Scientific 
Temperance  Instruction,  Mrs.  Mary  H.  Hunt,  superinten- 
dent, with  secretary  and  advisory  committee  of  live  persons. 
The  work  accomplished  in  this  department  already  is  of 
incalculable  importance  to  the  country  and  to  the  world. 
This  is  holy  ground.  I can  write  somewhat  from  personal 
knowledge  of  the  work  of  Mrs.  Hunt  in  the  Division  of  Sci- 
entific Temperance  Instruction.  Under  her  wise  and  able 
leadership,  laws  requiring  the  compulsory  study  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  temperance,  in  text-books  properly  adapted  to  the 
capacity  of  the  pupil,  already  have  been  enacted  in  seven- 
teen States,  while  an  excellent  national  law  carries  scientific 
temperance  into  the  common  schools  of  the  District  of 
Columbia,  into  all  the  Territories,  and  into  the  military  and 
naval  schools  of  the  United  States.  Great  service  has  been 
rendered  by  Mrs.  Hunt  in  promotion  of  the  bill  providing 
national  aid  to  common  schools,  and  the  final  success  of  which 
I doubt  not  under  her  able  management  in  carrying  out  the 
instruction  of  the  National  Union,  which  has  adopted  the  bill 
as  a most  important  temperance  measure.  Indeed,  it  seems 
to  be  time  Avasted  to  secure  laAvs  for  the  studjr  of  temperance 
in  schools,  unless  there  be  first  provided  suitable  and  suffi- 
cient schools. 

The  Division  for  Organization  and  Instruction  in  Schools 
of  Higher  Education,  Kindergarten  Work,  Kitchen  Garden, 
and  Industrial  Training,  Sunday-School  Work,  a very  im- 
portant and  successful  division,  at  the  head  of  which  I have 
long  been  proud  to  see  the  name  of  Miss  Lucia  E.  F.  Kim- 
ball, a native  of  my  OAvn  State,  Avhom  I have  knoAvn  from  her 
childhood,  and  whose  numerous  friends  haAre  watched  her  use- 
ful career  with  constantly  increasing  admiration  and  regard. 
Woman’s  Temperance  Publication  Association,  which  em- 
ploys sixty  persons,  five  editors,  and  is  out  of  debt,  Temper- 
ance Literature,  Advisory  Committee  for  Dime  Collection 
(eight  members),  the  Union  Signal,  — the  organ  of  the 
Union,  — the  Press,  Suppression  of  Impure  Literature,  Rela- 
tion of  Temperance  to  Labor,  National  Hospital  and  Train- 


518 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


ing-School  for  Nurses,  Training-School  for  Temperance 
Workers,  Narcotics. 

IV.  Evangelistic  Department.  — Divisions  : Evangelistic 
Work,  Work  in  Prison,  Jails,  Police  and  Almshouses,  Work 
among  Railroad  Emploj'ees,  Work  among  Soldiers  and  Sail- 
ors, Work  among  Lumber  Men,  Work  among  Miners,  to  se- 
cure the  use  of  Unfermented  Wine  at  the  Lord's  Table,  Day 
of  Prayer  and  Week  of  Prayer,  Social  Purity,  Work  among 
Mormon  Women,  Sabbath  Observance,  Flower  Mission. 

V.  Social  Department.  — Divisions : Parlor  Meetings, 
State  and  County  Fairs. 

VT.  Legal  Department.  — Divisions : Legislation  and 
Petitions,  Franchise,  Railroad  Rates,  Standing  Committees 
on  Music,  on  the  Status  of  the  Bible  in  the  Public  Schools, 
on  Co-operation  of  National  W.  C.  T.  U.  with  Associated 
Charities. 

This  enumeration  gives  the  outline  of  the  work,  but  con- 
veys little  conception  of  the  vast  numbers  engaged  in  it, 
or  the  mighty  play  of  the  two  hundred  thousand  selected 
spirits  who  are  the  living  stones  in  this  fairest  earthly  temple 
of  God.  • 

Out  of  the  National  Woman’s  Christian  Temperance  Union 
has  grown  that  of  the  world.  Mrs.  Margaret  B.  Lucas, 
sister  to  John  Bright,  president;  Miss  Frances  E.  Willard, 
vice-president  for  the  United  States:  Mrs.  Letitia  Youinans, 
for  the  Dominion  of  Canada ; Mrs.  Dr.  Whitne}’,  for  the 
Hawaiian  Islands,  New  Zealand ; Mrs.  Judge  Ward,  New 
Zealand;  Madame  Andersson  Meijerhehn,  Sweden;  Mrs. 
W.  E.  Locke,  Bulgaria;  Miss  M.  W.  Leitch,  Ce3rlon  ; Mrs. 
Brenthnall,  Brisbane,  Queensland,  Australia ; American  sec- 
retary, Mrs.  Hannah  Whitall  Smith ; British  secretary,  Mrs. 
Mary  Whitall  Costelloe  ; American  treasurer,  Miss  Esther 
Pugh  ; British  treasurer,  Mrs.  E.  Gregson. 

Organizers  for  Europe. — Miss  Charlotte  A.  Gray; 
Madame  Andersson  Meijerhehn,  for  Northern  Europe. 

Superintendents. — Mrs.  Mary  B.  Willard,  general  super- 
intendent press  department,  Berlin,  Prussia. 

American  Superintendents . — Legal  Department,  Mrs. 
John  P.  Newman  ; Press  Department,  Mrs.  Clara  L.  Roach ; 
Bible-Reading  Department,  Mrs.  Hannah  Whitall  Smith. 


THE  NATIONAL  W.  C.  T.  U.  THE  UNION  SIGNAL.  519 


The  Union  Signal , for  several  years,  and  until  failing  health 
compelled  her  retirement,  so  ably  edited  by  Mrs.  Mary  B. 
Willard,  is  now  under  the  literary  management  of  Miss  Mary 
Allen  West.  It  is  a perfect  clearing-house  of  temperance 
information,  especially  of  all  that  relates  to  the  work  and 
■condition  of  the  union.  The  cause  of  temperance  has  no 
more  able,  aggressive  or  judicious  pen  in  its  service  than  that 
of  Miss  AArest. 

The  Signal  was  founded  through  the  efforts  of  Mrs.  Ma- 
tilda B.  Curse,  a woman  of  extraordinary  energy  and  ability, 
who  has  demonstrated  that  her  sex  has  unsurpassed  business 
powers.  Her  life,  one  of  bereavement  and  much  personal 
sorrow,  is  now  wholly  devoted  to  the  relief  of  others’  woes, 
rind  to  comprehensive  plans  to  promote  the  growth  and  per- 
manency of  the  Union  and  the  welfare  of  humanity. 

The  Signal  is  organized  in  the  interest  of  the  AAr.  C.  T.  U., 
has  $25,000  capital  stock,  divided  into  shares  of  $25  each; 
nearly  50,000  weekly  circulation,  which  is  rapidly  increas- 
ing. ' Airs.  Carse,  who  is  the  publisher  and  business  manager 
of  the  AAroman’s  Temperance  Publication  Association,  is  now 
ensraared  in  the  erection  of  the  AAroman’s  Christian  Union 
Home  in  Chicago.  The  lot,  already  purchased,  is  in  a most 
eligible  location  in  the  city.  The  structure,  the  plans  of 
which  are  drawn  already,  is  to  be  twelve  stories  high,  and 
the  income  is  to  be  devoted  to  the  work  of  the  Union.  The 
estimated  cost  is  one  million  dollars,  and  will  furnish  com- 
■plete  business  accommodations  to  the  Union,  and  much  space 
in  addition  for  rent.  The  Home  of  the  Union  is  going  up. 
It  would  be  pronounced  impossible  by  mere  mortals,  but  any- 
thing seems  to  be  possible  to  Airs.  Carse,  and  in  Chicago. 
And  now  I am  to  state  the  most  astonishing  fact  of  the 
whole,  that  is,  to  a man.  During  the  first  eight  years  of  the 
work  of  the  National  AAToman’s  Christian  Temperance  Union, 
its  income  averaged  not  over  one  thousand  dollars  a year. 
During  all  that  time,  it  had  not  a single  salaried  officer,  and 
now  has  but  one  — its  corresponding  secretary,  at  $1000  per 
year,  while  a private  secretary  is  furnished  the  president  at 
$G00. 

The  present  income  of  the  society  is  but  from  eight  to  ten 
thousand  dollars  yearly,  and  with  all  this  immense  labor  and 


520 


TIIE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


expenditure  the  Union  is  of  course  greatly  embarrassed  at 
times,  and  in  fact  nearly  always,  with  arrearages  which  are 
the  source  of  great  anxiety  to  its  leaders.  The  generous 
philanthropy  of  this  country,  often  praying  to  God  to  know 
how  to  invest  money  so  as  to  yield  the  largest  returns  to  His 
cause  and  for  the  happiness  of  the  race,  should  fill  the  treas- 
ury of  the  Union  to  overflowing,  and  provide  for  its  future 
as  well  as  present  wants,  by  contributions  and  permanent 
benefactions.  This  work  has  so  far  been  done  by  the  con- 
secration of  the  highest  and  best  Rifts  of  the  thousands  who 
are  engaged  in  it,  for  now  these  thirteen  years,  without  money 
and  without  price  for  their  personal  services.  The  human 
race  has  no  story  like  it ; and  the  men  of  this  proud  and 
wealthy  American  nation  can  point  to  a lofty  type  of  woman- 
hood, developed  by  Christianity  and  republican  institutions,, 
of  'whom  the  world  has  no  other  example.  What  a pity  — 
should  I say  shame?  — that  these  women  want  for  mere 
money,  when  with  them  so  little  does  so  much  ! Think  of  a 
woman,  like  Frances  E.  Willard,  going  through  our  country 
] and  world  — doing  what  she  does,  and  as  she  does  it,  with- 
j out  a dollar  reward  for  the  expenditure  of  this  consecrated 
.'life,  worried  for  money  — half  the  time  fed  bv  God’s  ravens, 
;wTith  nothing  but  faith,  hope  and  love  to  live  on  now,  and  no 
•'provision  whatever  for  age,  when  this  brilliant  career  shall 
' halt  and  this  voice  from  heaven  shall  fail  from  the  earth ! 

And  she  is  but  one  of  so  many.  It  is  at  once  their  glory 
and  our  shame.  I sometimes  wish  I was  not  a man  ; or  that, 
being  one,  I had  more  money.  I hope  those  who  have  will 
read  this  chapter.  What  would  not  these  women  accom- 
plish with  a million  a year  ! 

The  superintendent  of  Southern  work,  one  of  the  most  ac- 
complished ‘women  the  country  ever  knew,  Mrs.  Sallie  F. 
Chapin  of  Charleston,  S.  C.,  has,  during  twelve  years  last 
past,  labored  night  and  da}’  for  the  redemption  of  that  por- 
tion of  our  common  country  from  the  worst  plague  that  ever 
afflicted  it,  and  the  astonishing  prevalence  of  prohibition 
sentiment  in  the  South  is  the  abundant  reward  of  her  labors. 
With  her  have  been  associated  Mrs.  Sibley  of  Georgia,  and 
Mrs.  Merrick  of  New  Orleans,  Mrs.  Meriwether  of  Ten- 
nessee, Mrs.  Snell  of  Mississippi,  and  many  other  of  the 


Mrs.  C.  B.  Buell \ 

Corresponding  Secretary  National  U\  C.  T.  U. 


THE  W.  C.  T.  U. TEMPERANCE  SONG. 


521 


selectest  women  of  the  South,  whose  prayers  and  tears  during 
the  long  night  of  weary  waiting  are  now  turning  into  songs  of 
praise  and  victory.  Sometime  it  will  be  known  how  the  real 
union  of  these  States  was  first  restored  in  the  hearts  of  the 
women  of  the  North  and  the  South,  whose  souls  first  fused 
together  in  this  great  struggle  to  rescue  the  whole  country 
from  an  evil  compared  with  which  the  war,  with  all  its  causes, 
was  a trifle.  Whatever  foreign  complications  may  arise,  so 
long  as  the  National  Christian  Temperance  Union  lasts,  this 
nation  shall  learn  civil  war  no  more.  If  brotherhood  will 
not  keep  the  peace,  then  sisterhood  will  preserve  it. 

The  Crusade  was  half  song.  In  fact,  music  is  the  vehicle 
of  moral  transitions.  It  is  both  an  accompaniment  and  a 
weapon  of  revolution.  Lately  the  Union  has  turned  atten- 
tion more  and  more  to  its  neglected  power  as  an  agent  for 
the  regeneration  of  human  nature. 

I am  not  about  to  write  of  it,  but  I wish  to  say  that  I do 
not  think  this  force  is  as  yet  fully  comprehended,  certainly 
not  utilized,  as  a creative  and  elevating  influence  upon  the 
whole  human  being.  It  will  perhaps  be  remembered  that 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  Thompson,  the  philanthropist,  whose  bene- 
factions and  personal  inspiration  have  vitalized  the  energies 
of  so  many  willing  workers  for  the  welfare  of  the  l’ace,  and 
lifted  up  many  a " heart  bowed  down  with  grief,”  while 
every  good  cause  shall  rise  up  to  call  her  memory  blessed, 
has  lately  started  the  idea  of  song-service  among  the  poor. 
In  various  parts  of  the  country  it  has  been  adopted,  with 
remarkable  results.  I quote  from  Prof.  Alfred  Andrews, 
who  has  lately  published  a simple  and  valuable  lesson-book 
for  the  easy  training  of  the  old  and  young  "to  lift  up  their 
voices  in  praise  or  song  ” : 

“ The  author  of  a great  work  on  moral  education  has  given 
the  philosophical  explanation  why  vocal  music  affects  the  moral 
nature,  and  among  other  things  says  that  there  is  no  moral  power 
in  education  equal  to  the  voice  of  the  pupil  ; that  the  chief  and 
most  beneficent  moral  exercise  is  that  in  which  the  voice  goes 
forth,  with  all  its  emotional  strength,  in  the  expression  of  feeling 
in  song ; and  that  the  school  in  which  song  is  not  a prominent 
part  of  its  exercises  is  not  a moral  school,  for  song  is  a great  moral 
element. 


522 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


“True  song  is  a gush  of  feeling,  and  is  therefore  moral  educa- 
tion in  its  purity.  Songs  are  the  highways  of  angels  to  human 
hearts  ; and  when  you  close  these  highways  and  shut  out  the  angels 
the  devils  are  free  to  come  in  their  place.” 

Mrs.  Thompson’s  idea  was  lately  utilized  by  the  Baptist 
Social  Union  of  Boston,  in  its  social  and  missionary  work. 
A district  was  selected  in  which  many  workmen  lived,  and 
there  was  a strong  desire  to  get  them  more  interested  in 
religious  affairs.  Special  invitations  were  sent  to  five  thou- 
sand — all  men  and  American  workmen  — to  be  present  at 
a " sacred  concert.”  Eight  hundred  came.  They  were 
delighted,  and  brought  many  more  with  them  to  the  next 
concert,  and  after  that  one  came  again,  when,  b\r  invitation, 
they  brought  their  wives.  I quote  from  the  press  account: 

" The  church  was  now  crowded  to  overflowing The 

best  singers  and  the  best  music  that  could  be  had  were  none 
too  good  for  the  working-men  and  the  working-women  of  the 
South  End.”  The  concert  was  so  arranged  that  often  all 
could  take  part  — singing  "America  ” and  like  tunes.  The 
result  has  been  to  fill  the  church,  and  keep  it  full  of  its  new 
occupants,  whom  the  best  preaching  alone  never  would  have 
allured  to  the  sanctuary. 

Mrs.  Thompson  writes  : 

“ If  a nation  may  be  made  to  drift  into  war  by  the  influence  of 
martial  music,  why  may  not  the  spirit  of  peace  be  generated  and 
infused  by  the  influence  of  sacred  music  and  song? 

“ The  poet  Lowell  says : ‘ One  of  His  sweetest  charities  is 

music.’ 

“ In  our  poor-houses  there  are  old  men  and  women,  sad,  hope- 
less, weary — long  strangers  to  any  gentle  ministrations.  In  our 
prisons  there  are  dull  intellects,  and  hearts  hardened  against  open 
religious  efforts ; in  our  hospitals  there  ai-e  suffering  ones  so  worn 
with  pain,  so  weak,  so  near  the  world  for  which,  alas ! they  have 
received  no  preparation,  — to  all  these  might  be  borne  on  the 
wings  of  song  the  words  of  life  from  Him  who  came  ‘ to  preach 
the  gospel  to  the  poor,  to  heal  the  broken-hearted,  to  set  at  liberty 
them  that  are  bruised.’ 

“A  Christian  song  has  this  advantage  over  a sermon  — the 
truth  in  it  touches  the  heart  of  the  hearer  unawares,  when  he  is 
not  on  the  defensive  against  the  gosjiel. 


Miss  Esther  Pugh, 

Trcas.  National  IV.  C.  T.  U. 


THE  W.  C.  T.  U.  TEMPERANCE  SONG. 


523 


“ Specially  successful  may  the  hymn  be  if  some  helpful  thought 
is  repeated  over  and  over,  as  in  the  refrains  of  the  choruses.  This 
will  fasten  on  many  a hearer,  and  sing  itself  in  his  mind  hours  and 
days  after  it  was  heard. 

“ Educate  the  hearts  of  the  people  by  sacred  music,  and  the 
heart  will  readily  educate  the  head.” 

And  she  adds  in  a note  to  me  last  July : 

“I  wish  you  could  see  the  need  and  the  use  of  giving  the  people 
music.  Could  you  make  the  American  people  a singing  people, 
you  would  soon  see  a change  in  their  morals.  Sing ! — I wish 
every  one  could  and  would  sing,  and  I pray  God  to  inspire  you 
with  the  idea  of  making  music  and  temperance  go  together,  and 
so  help  each  other  along.” 

Now,  there  is  more  in  this  than  may  be  dreamed  of  in  our 
philosophy.  Both  praise  and  prayer  appeal  to  primary  ele- 
ments and  emotions  of  the  soul  — and  the  most  of  us  are 
more  accessible  through  praise  than  prayer.  Even  sinners 
feel  that  they  have  a right  to  help  along  the  singing ; but  as 
for  prayer,  that  is  a different  thing  — only  for  the  saints  — 
very  few  are  good  enough  to  pray  in  public  — only  the  min- 
ister, the  deacons,  and  a few  of  the  very  best.  However  all 
this  is  to  be  explained,  if  it  can  be  explained,  the  fact  is  a 
whole  congregation  and  "innumerable  multitudes”  will  }rield 
to  song,  and  sing  themselves  also,  when  nothing  else  seems 
to  stir  them  at  all.  I am  inclined  to  think  the  poet  had  an 
impression  of  tvhat  is  coming  when  he  broke  forth  as  though 
he  began  to  hear  it : 

“ When  shall  the  sound  of  singing 
Flow  joyfully  along ! 

When  hill  and  valley,  ringing 
With  one  triumphant  song. 

Proclaim  the  contest  ended, 

And  He  who  once  was  slain, 

Again  to  earth  descended, 

Returns  in  bliss  to  reign.” 

And  the  Woman’s  Christian  Temperance  Union  is  develop- 
ing more  and  more  the  idea  to  which  Mrs.  Thompson  calls 
attention  in  this  timely  way. 

Miss  Anna  Gordon,  who  is  like  another  right  arm  to  Miss 
Willard  (but  she  has  one  for  her  own  use  also),  and  others 


524 


THE  TEMTEKANCE  MOVEMENT. 


are  utilizing  more  and  more  this  comparatively  unused  agency 
of  song.  If  I could  write  a word  which  would  encourage 
the  feeling  that  they  are  developing  a new  sense,  as  it  were, 
or  rather  one  of  which  the  world  has  vaguely  known,  and 
conceived  to  belong  to  the  few,  but  which  now  is  to  become 
the  possession  of  the  many,  and  as  much  a means  of  reform, 
regeneration  and  happiness  as  reading,  preaching,  praying 
or  the  universal  development  of  artistic  powers,  I should 
deem  myself  most  fortunate.  But  this  chapter  must  close 
with  mention  of  scarce  any  of  the  great  leaders  of  the 
Union ; for  the  time  would  fail  me  to  speak  of  Mrs.  Wood- 
bridge,  Mrs.  Foster,  Mrs.  Buell,  Mrs.  Burt,  Mrs.  Lathrop 
and  Miss  Coleman,  who  has  created  a temperance  literature 
almost  of  her  own  intellectual  and  business  powers,  Mrs. 
Stevens,  Miss  Pugh,  Mrs.  Newman  of  Washington  and  Mrs. 
Newman  of  Nebraska,  Mrs.  Barnes,  Dr.  Burnett,  Mrs. 
Barney,  Miss  Smith,  Mrs.  Wallace,  Mrs.  AYhite,  Mrs. 
Knox,  Mrs.  Gordon,  Miss  Briggs  and  Miss  Brown,  whom 
I have  personally  known,  and  seen  in  the  prosecution  of 
their  mighty  work,  and  a thousand  others  who  in  every 
State  and  Territory  and  on  every  inch  of  our  national  soil  — 
and  beyond  it  — have  wrought  and  still  are  working  for  the 
good  of  man  and  the  glory  of  God,  in  season  and  out  of 
season,  accomplishing  their  great  mission  on  earth  — who  by 
their  faith  have  removed  mountains  — of  whom  the  world 
is  not  worthy. 

And  some  are  not,  for  God  has  taken  them. 

Of  Miss  Francis  E.  Willard,  the  President  of  the  Woman’s 
National  Christian  Temperance  Union,  I had  intended  to 
write  ; but  I will  not  mar  the  felicity  of  her  fame  by  an 
attempted  portrayal  of  her  accomplishments,  her  powers 
and  her  worth.  She  leads  the  wonderful  organization,  se- 
lected from  the  world's  Christian  womanhood,  and  embracing 
the  highest  forces  operating  in  the  forefront  of  civilization, 
with  the  valor  of  Alexander,  the  sagacity  of  Fabius,  the 
patience  and  piety  of  Washington.  She  is  a woman.  To 
belong  to  the  Union  is  a high  honor.  To  lead  it  is  a still 
higher  honor.  To  lead  it  as  it  is  led  is  almost  impossible  to 
human  powers.  It  would  be  quite  so  but  for  the  fact  that 
this  Grand  Army  is  right,  both  by  instinct  and  inspiration. 


THE  W.  C.  T.  U.  TEKrETUAL. 


525 


Let  us  hope  for  the  permanence  of  this  great  organization. 
I believe  it  to  be  indestructible  because  it  is  the  creation  or 
result  of  causes  operating  from  the  beginning  of  time,  and 
which  in  a true  sense  ordain  whatsoever  comes  to  pass,  and 
is  a necessary  means  to  the  great  end  of  millennial  trans- 
formation. 

The  true  histoiy  of  our  time  is  being  made  by  woman. 
It  is  her  age.  We  are  fortunate  to  live  in  it.  Let  the  next, 
which  can  look  back  upon  their  full  proportions,  record  its 
wonders.  Meanwhile,  let  the  actors  in  these  great  events 
Avait  for  the  verdict  of  posterity,  who 

“Long  shall  seek  their  likeness  — long  in  vain.” 


CHAPTER  XXV. 


WIIAT  SHALL  AVE  DO  NEXT? 


Since  Waterloo  no  Year  in  which  Rum  has  not  been  the  Great  Destroyer 
— Governor  St.  John’s  Speech  at  Worcester — The  New  Century  of 
Temperance  Reform  — A Look  Backward  on  the  Past  — Means  of 
the  Past  Successes  — Helps  and  Hindrances  — One  Hundi'ed  Years 
have  Wrought  Conviction  — The  Removal  of  the  Evil  is  now  the 
Problem  — The  Question  Everywhere,  North  and  South,  East  and 
West — The  American  People  must  Act — What  to  do  Next?  — 
Washingtonian  Moral  Suasion  not  Sufficient — Constitutional  Amend- 
ment — Not  of  what  Party,  but  will  the  Member  of  Congress  Vote 
Prohibitory  Amendment?  — In  1890  Submit  the  Amendment  to  the 
People  — No  more  Mistakes  — Unanimity  and  Efficiency  — Caucuses, 
Primaries  and  Nominating  Conventions  — National  Prohibition  our 
Watchword  — Then,  America  the  Temperance  Leader  and  Redeemer 
of  the  Nations. 

S Ave  turn  our  faces  to  the  foe  and  move  for  the  prom- 


ised land,  we  feel  the  force  of  the  question,  — What 


shall  Ave  do  next?  Let  us  briefly  review  the  past  and  con- 
sider a few  suggestions  in  answer  to  this  question. 

It  must  be  conceded  that  the  use  of  intoxicating,  that  is  to 
say  of  jooisonous  liquors  as  a beverage  is  the  chief  source 
and  immediate  cause  of  more  hurt  to  society  and  to  indixAd- 
uals  than  any  other  agency  Avliich  can  be  named.  The 
Avar  of  the  rebellion  cost  us  feAver  lives  and  less  treasure 
year  by  year  during  its  term  of  death  and  devastation  than 
the  nation  has  sacrificed  annually  to  the  Moloch  of  alcohol 
during  the  halcyon  period  Avhich  has  elapsed  since  its  close. 
Pestilence  has  not  slain  sixty  thousand  victims  in  any  one 
year  since  the  settlement  of  this  country.  If  cholera  and 
small-pox,  combined,  should  sweep  aAvay  one  hundred  thou- 
sand of  our  countrymen  in  a season,  the  nation  Avould  organ- 
ize as  one  vast  funeral  procession  and  hang  the  heavens  Avith 
the  emblems  of  despair.  Famine  is  Avith  us  unknoAvn,  or  at 
least  unnecessary,  and  Avhcncver  it  exists  it  is  a crime  either 
of  the  victim  or  of  the  community,  and  not  an  excusable  mis- 
fortune in  any  case  Avhatever ; but  in  other  civilized  lands 


526 


ALCOHOL  CONFRONTED  AS  THE  ENEMY. 


527 


starvation,  even  during  the  last  fifty  years,  has  occasionally 
taught  mankind  that  the  terrible  word  can  not  yet  be  dropped 
from  the  human  vocabulary  as  descriptive  of  an  evil  liability 
to  which  is  extant  among  men. 

Yet  it  may  safely  be  said  that  since  the  battle  of  Water- 
loo, now  the  full  period  of  the  life  of  man,  there  has  been  no 
one  year  in  which  the  combined  suffering  and  pecuniary 
losses  inflicted  upon  the  Caucasian  race  by  war,  pestilence 
and  famine,  have  equalled  the  total  of  destruction  chargeable 
to  alcohol  in  the  same  lapse  of  time.  Beyond  this  the  curse 
of  the  latter  has  been  not  intermittent  and  occasional,  but 
perpetual  and  inexorable,  and,  I think,  on  the  whole,  increas 
ing  like  the  everlasting  and  unyielding  pressure  of  gravita- 
tion and  depravity.  In  this  work  we  have  become  familiar 
with  the  mathematical  statements  which  come  to  us  from 
statisticians,  municipal  authorities,  from  the  leading  lumina- 
ries of  all  the  professions  and  from  every  source  of  authentic 
information,  by  Avhich  we  learn  that  at  least  two-thirds  of 
the  pauperism,  insanity  and  crime,  and  of  the  public  and 
private  burdens  which  these  great  evils  impose  upon  us,  are 
directly  chargeable  to  intoxicating  drink.  Such  facts  are  as 
familiar  as  corpses  upon  a battlefield,  and  seem  to  attract  no 
more  attention.  I hazard  nothing  in  appealing  to  the  con- 
sciousness of  every  one  who  l'eads  these  lines  to  attest  that 
he  has  seen  more  of  evil  flowing  from  this  than  from  any 
other  one  cause  during  his  whole  lifetime,  and  I should 
hardly  fail  if  I asserted  that  the  personal  sorrows  and  afflic- 
tions which  he  has  most  to  bewail  among  friends,  kindred 
and  the  community  where  he  may  dwell  are  traceable  to 
the  same  omnipresent  curse.  Those  who  preach,  preach 
against  it,  and  those  who  pray,  pray  against  it.  Platform 
orators  denounce  it.  The  press  recounts  its  daily  crimes 
and  deviltries,  and  those  who  drink,  as  well  as  those  who 
abstain,  vie  with  each  other  in  stigmatizing  rum  as  the  worst 
thing  there  is  extant.  Yet,  somehow,  the  old  king  does 
most  wonderfully  hold  his  own.  He  is  the  popular  curse. 
He  has  round  billions  of  money  invested  in  his  business, 
one-tenth,  perhaps,  of  the  property  and  labor  of  the  country, 
producing  and  distributing  death  and  misery  to  the  American 
people.  His  market  is  as  sure  as  that  for  cotton,  corn  or 


528 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


beef.  The  unnatural  appetite  which  constitutes  the  demand 
has  become  as  insatiable,  and  almost  as  universal,  as  the 
demand  for  healthy  foods.  This  appetite  descends  with  the 
blood,  and  the  parent  thus  tends  bar,  even  after  death,  for  his 
child.  Multitudes  bewail  the  evils  of  intoxication,  attend 
temperance  meetings,  sing  temperance  songs  and  pay  a dol- 
lar a year  to  help  along  the  blessed  cause,  and  then  lease 
their  real  estate  for  saloons,  protest  against  the  insertion  of 
prohibition  planks  in  political  platforms  lest  remonstrance 
against  evil  shall  upset  party  supremacy;  or,  it  may  be, 
with  upright  purpose,  influenced  by  profound  discouragement 
and  disgust,  they  break  down  and  destroy  an  organization 
which  they  created  and  which  belongs  to  them,  which  they 
might  control  and  save  and  use  as  a mighty  power  for  the 
removal  of  the  evils  which  they  deplore.  So  it  goes,  and  the 
evil  expands  until,  as  Governor  St.  John  tells  us,  no  doubt 
truly,  in  a speech  at  'Worcester,  Mass.,  in  the  year  1885, 
that  the  production,  which  in  the  year  1862  was  said  to  have 
been  16,000,000  gallons  of  distilled  liquors,  and  62,000,000 
gallons  of  beer,  perhaps  an  exceptionally  unproductive  year, 
was,  according  to  a recent  report  of  the  commissioner  of 
internal  revenue,  69,000,000  gallons  of  distilled  spirits, 
19,000,000  barrels  or  700,000,000  gallons  of  malt  liquors, 
and  over  2,000,000  gallons  of  wine,  all  which  went  into  the 
consumption  of  this  country  during  the  fiscal  year  ending 
June  30,  1885.  Well,  really,  we  do  not  seem  to  be  pro- 
gressing very  rapidly  according  to  these  figures,  but  I sus- 
pect that  the  returns  of  1862  were  imperfect.  There  is, 
however,  I think,  no  doubt  that  the  consumption  of  all  kinds 
of  intoxicating  liquors  has  increased  quite  as  rapidly  as 
population  in  the  United  States  during  the  last  quarter  of  a 
century.  This  is  true  of  malt  liquors,  unquestionably,  and 
perhaps  of  wines.  The  rum  traffic  is  now  the  great  menacing 
danger  of  America  and  of  civilization. 

What,  then,  shall  Ave  do  ? 1 do  not  assume  that  I can 

answer  this  question.  I can  state  Avhat  seems  to  my  vision 

to  be  the  better  way ; that  is  all  that  any  man  can  do,  and 

the  Supreme  Euler  of  events  will  direct  the  pathway  of 

action  for  the  neAV  century  and  in  the  ages  to  come  as  he  has 

from  the  beginning  until  now. 

© © 


Mrs.  Clara  Hoffman , 

President  JF.  C.  T.  U.,  of  Missouri. 


RETROSPECT  AND  FORECAST. 


529 


We  stand  upon  an  elevation  at  the  opening  of  a new 
century  of  the  temperance  reform.  It  is  an  hour  of  retro- 
spect and  of  forecast.  Something  is  revealed  by  the  lamp  of 
experience  for  the  guidance  of  our  feet  in  the  century  to 
come.  W hat  has  been  done  in  the  last  hundred  years?  By 
what  means  has  it  been  accomplished?  What  remains  to 
do,  and  by  what  means  and  methods  shall  the  remaining 
work  be  wrought?  These  questions  are  the  all-important 
ones  before  us  now.  They  have  largely  been  answered 
already,  and  space  forbids  any  save  the  most  cursory  view  of 
so  vast  a theme. 

In  the  first  place,  during  the  century  just  closed  we  have 
learned  that  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  as  a beverage, 
simply  as  a beverage  and  not  as  a medicine,  is  an  evil  both 
useless  and  hurtful.  We  have  learned  that  alcohol  is  a 
poison  and  not  a food ; that  it  is  never  useful  to  the  human 
system  save  under  circumstances  when  a poison  may  be 
useful,  never  to  produce  or  improve  health  only  as  it  may 
remove  an  obstruction  to  the  natural  and  proper  action  of 
this  vital  machine,  so  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made.  We 
gravely  doubt  whether  it  be  ever  useful  or  necessary.  Science 
has  become  our  ally,  and  fortifies  our  cause  impregnably  with 
her  demonstrations.  The  Byronic  phrase,  "Bum  and  True 
Religion,”  was  hardly  blasphemous  sixty  years  ago.  A ven- 
erable Christian  once  told  me  that  when  he  was  six  3'ears  old, 
his  sainted  mother  became  converted  and  joined  the  Congre- 
gational Church  in  one  of  the  best  towns  in  my  own  State. 
Among  his  most  vivid  recollections  was  the  memory  of  the 
visits  of  the  distinguished  divine,  who  came,  on  two  or  more 
occasions  to  his  father’s  house,  for  the  purpose  of  testing  the 
theological  soundness  as  well  as  practical  piety  of  his  mother 
during  the  probationary  period  which  preceded  her  admis- 
sion to  the  church,  every  such  interview  in  the  discharge  of 
his  sacred  calling  being  opened  by  a liberal  drink  of  New 
England  rum,  administered  by  the  hands  of  the  candidate 
for  admission.  It  was  not  only  the  way  of  the  world,  but 
it  was  the  way  of  the  church.  Drinking  which  did  not 
result  in  actual  helplessness  was  hardly  considered  an  offense, 
while,  as  to  social  custom,  its  indulgence  was  as  universal 
as  it  was  deemed  to  be  delightful,  and  its  dangerous  tendency 
34 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


530 

was  overlooked  most  strangely  and  wickedly  by  the  great 
majority  of  the  best  of  men.  Now  the  Christian  ministry, 
Protestant  and  Catholic,  is  almost  a unit  against  rum.  The 
medical  profession  is  against  rum ; the  judiciary  is  against 
rum  : science,  religion,  the  learned  professions  as  a whole, 
which  one  hundred  years  ago  were  for  rum,  are  now  against 
it.  The  substantial  press  of  the  country  is  against  it ; intel- 
ligence, conscience,  all  the  great  forces  and  agencies  of 
society  are  against  it.  Whenever  and  wherever  any  of 
them  advocate  its  cause,  the  work  is  accompanied  by  a 
concession  of  the  evil,  and  the  hypocritical  or  ignorant  pre- 
tense that  it  can  best  be  suppressed  by  some  policy  which 
increases  the  evil.  You  cannot  conceive  of  a political  plat- 
form which  advocates  or  justifies  the  liquor  traffic  because  it 
does  any  good.  All  opposition  to  the  evil  is  deprecated,  or 
its  license  is  sought  only  upon  the  ground  that  stringent  and 
prohibitory  measures  increase  the  evil,  or  that  such  alleged 
invasions  of  personal  liberty  are  dangerous  to  individuals  or 
to  the  State.  It  seems  to  be  forgotten  that  the  very  essence 
of  all  government  is  an  invasion  of  personal  liberty  to  do 
wrong,  and  there  can  be  no  personal  liberty  to  perform  any 
action  hurtful  to  society  and  to  the  State,  which  is  beyond 
the  jurisdiction  and  the  power  of  the  government  established 
for  the  preservation  of  both.  In  short,  this  much  (and  it  is 
everything  in  that  it  is  the  major  premise  of  the  syllogism 
whose  conclusion  is  the  destruction  of  the  traffic),  has  been 
established  by  the  agitation  of  the  century  just  closed:  that 
the  manufacture,  sale  and  use  of  alcohol  as  a beverage  is  the 
greatest  crime  and  curse  of  modern  times.  All  the  great 
conservative  and  preservative  forces  of  society  are  now 
arrayed  against  it.  That  means  its  ultimate  and  inevitable 
extinction. 

There  never  was  an  evil,  which  has  passed  away,  that  was 
not  destroyed  by  public  opinion.  There  is  not,  there  never 
will  be,  an  evil  which  can  withstand  the  assaults  of  the 
enlightened  condemnation  of  a free  people  who  suffer  from 
it.  We  have,  then,  this  impregnable  fact  and  supreme  con- 
solation which  the  past  century  has  bequeathed  to  us,  more 
precious  to  humanity  than  a diadem  of  morning-stars,  that 
the  liquor  traffic  is  doomed,  and  shall  be  destroyed.  The 


THE  MEANS  OF  PAST  ACHIEVEMENTS. 


531 


demon  has  been  tried,  and  condemned  to  death  in  the  highest 
court,  the  court  of  public  opinion.  To  us  is  assigned  the 
work  of  execution.  Let  us  proceed  to  perform  that  duty 
faithfully,  relentlessly  and  now. 

For  a moment  let  us  consider  the  means  by  which  the 
achievements  of  the  past  have  been  won. 

There  seem  to  be  two  agencies  which  influence  human 
action,  persuasion  and  force,  — the  action  of  individuals 
upon  each  other  and  upon  the  community  by  facts  and 
motives  addressed  to  the  understanding  and  to  the  will, 
or,  in  other  words,  moral  suasion  ; and  the  will  of  the  com- 
munity— the  result  of  moral  suasion,  embodied  in  law.  The 
law  itself  becomes,  in  its  turn,  the  fortress  and  re-enforce- 
ment of  the  moral  sentiment  and  opinion  of  the  community  ; 
and  by  the  sanctions  which  belong  to  its  administration, 
and  the  reverence  which  a free  people  must  always  entertain 
for  the  laws  which  have  once  been  enacted,  even  when  the 
reasons  which  may  have  led  to  it  have  become  forgotten 
or  obscured  in  the  agitation  of  fresh  issues  concerning  the 
public  weal,  the  lavr  preserves  and  maintains  the  good  to 
secure  which  it  was  enacted.  After  popular  enthusiasm  has 
passed  away,  the  enemy  comes  in  again  like  a flood.  Then 
it  is  that  a vigilant  and  determined  minority  can  rally  under 
the  tegis  of  an  existing  law,  and  summon  its  sanctions  as  a 
means  of  recalling  the  former  acuteness  of  a now  blunted 
public  sentiment,  as  well  as  to  directly  suppress  or  restrain 
the  evil  prohibited.  True  it  is  that  when  a law  is  really 
wrong,  or  by  the  nature  of  things  has  become  obsolete,  the 
reason  thereof  failing,  it  is  impossible  for  a minority  long  to 
enforce  it.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  if  the  evil  remain, 
and  the  law  be  right,  the  fact  that  it  is  on  the  statute-book 
is  a very  great  advantage,  especially  in  times  of  declension 
in  public  zeal  for  the  right.  Both  these  forces,  moral  suasion 
and  public  law,  have  been  employed  in  the  promotion  ot  the 
temperance  reform  during  the  century  past.  It  is  so  patent 
that  moral  suasion,  by  education  and  argument,  has  been  and 
always  must  be  the  great  preliminary,  all-causing  and  con- 
trolling agency  in  moulding  public  opinion,  which  alone  makes 
laws  and  gives  permanent  efficiency  after  their  enactment, 
that  for  my  present  purpose  I need  not  press  its  importance, 


532 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


to  the  future  as  well  as  to  the  past,  further  upon  the  atten- 
tion. I wish  to  consider,  however,  briefly,  the  character  of 
the  legal  enactments  which  in  the  past  have  been  relied  upon 
to  promote  the  temperance  reform.  These  have  been  by 
license  or  by  prohibition  of  the  sale  for  immediate  consump- 
tion, either  by  the  State  or  by  some  subdivision  of  the  State, 
as  a town  or  county,  by  authority  derived  from  the  State. 
The  general  government  has  never  passed,  as  it  might  do, 
for  the  District  of  Columbia  and  the  Territories  any  form 
whatever  of  prohibitory  law  against  the  rum  traffic.  License 
laws  are  based  upon  the  idea  of  taxation  for  revenue,  and 
imply  a sanction  of  the  trade,  as  well  as  participation  in 
the  profits  thereof  by  the  whole  people,  who,  for  the  general 
good  alone,  can  exercise  the  taxing  power.  A license  gives 
the  right  to  sell  in  consideration  of  the  fee  paid  to  the  people, 
and  prohibits  such  right  to  those  Avho  will  not  pay  the  tax. 
The  same  sum  imposed  as  a penalty  for  selling  in  violation 
of  a prohibitory  law,  is  payable  for  each  and  every  sale,  and 
there  is  no  consent  to  the  act  on  the  part  of  the  public  what- 
ever. The  fact  that  the  penalty,  like  the  fee  for  the  license, 
goes  into  the  public  treasury,  is  of  no  consequence  at 
all.  These  license  laws,  or  excise  laws,  although  for  a 
while  they  may  restrain,  are  no  ultimate  help  to  the  tem- 
perance reform.  They  are,  in  fact,  one  of  the  chief  defenses 
of  the  traffic,  and,  whether  high  or  low,  are  of  most  per- 
nicious final  tendency.  They  bribe  the  public  conscience, 
the}r  bewilder  the  public  intelligence,  and  they  never  are  long 
enforced  in  those  provisions  which  are  sometimes  honestly, 
but  more  generally  with  bad  design,  attached  for  the  appa- 
rent purpose  of  restriction.  The  licensee  soon  violates  all 
these  restrictions,  and  then  is  as  liable  to  prosecution,  at  the 
instigation  of  the  common  seller  without  any  license  at  all, 
as  is  the  latter  at  the  suit  of  the  licensee  himself.  One  vio- 
lator of  law  will  not  prosecute  another  violator  of  law.  Then 
where  is  the  motive  for  prosecution  on  his  part,  the  creation 
of  which  is  said  to  be  the  great  excellence  of  the  license  law 
as  a means  of  regulating  the  trade?  It  has  disappeared,  and 
the  license  law  is  no  law  at  all  in  its  practical  effect,  save  only 
as  it  does  the  general  coffers  fill  with  the  price  of  blood.  So 
far  as  it  promotes  the  gilded  saloon  by  closing  the  low  grog- 


Mother  Stewart. 


I 


FAST  ACHIEVEMENTS  AND  FAILURES.  533 

gery,  I have  only  to  say,  the  latter  seems  to  me  to  be  far 
more  respectable,  and  a less  curse  in  the  community  than 
the  former.  Ten  groggeries  will  not  work  the  ruin  wrought 
by  a single  palace  of  strong  drink.  Treason  should  be  made 
odious.  Every  lover  of  his  country  should  vote  for  the 
groggery  as  against  the  saloon.  The  license  law,  high  or 
low,  is  no  device  of  the  temperance  reform  nor  of  the  tem- 
perance agitation.  It  was  not  developed  by  it.  The  moral 
sentiment  of  the  community  had  nothing  to  do  with  its 
origin,  nor,  unless  under  a grievous  misapprehension,  with 
its  present  support.  It  has  existed  ever  since  there  was  a 
traffic,  and  for  the  sole  purpose  of  getting  money  out  of  it 
for  the  public  pocket,  and  might  just  as  well  be  applied  to 
the  commission  of  any  other  offense  against  the  public  wel- 
fare by  those  who  would  pay  for  the  liberty,  as  to  the  trade 
in  rum.  A license  law  seems  to  me  to  be  radically  wrong 
in  principle,  pernicious  in  pi'actice,  and,  so  far  as  I know, 
no  one  has  ever  imposed  any  real  or  permanent  restraint 
upon  the  gigantic  evil  with  which  civilization  is  now  called 
upon  to  contend.  The  only  permanent  good  effect  of  such 
a law  is  to  undeceive  the  confidence  of  the  enemies  of  the 
traffic  in  the  efficacy  of  such  devices.  Some  people  will 
only  learn  from  an  experiment. 

There  remain  to  be  considered  only  the  State  and  local 
option  laws,  which  have  assumed  to  prohibit  the  sale  of 
alcohol  for  drinking  purposes.  The  amendments  to  State 
constitutions  have  as  yet  become  hardly  an  operative  force. 

These  prohibitory  laws  have  partially  succeeded  and  they 
have  partially  failed.  Why  have  they  so  far  succeeded? 
Because  they  were  founded  upon  the  right  principle,  and 
hence  rallied  conscience  and  humanity  to  their  support. 
Why  h ave  they  so  far  failed?  Because  they  were,  save  in 
the  principle  involved,  in  no  just  sense  prohibitory  laws  at 
all.  They  did  not,  and  they  do  not,  and  they  can  not,  when 
enacted  by  a State  only,  prevent  the  traffic  in  intoxicating 
liquor.  The  liquor  traffic  comprises  vastly  more  than  the 
retail  sale,  or  even  the  wholesale  and  retail  transaction. 
The  liquor  traffic  is  practically  independent,  in  a large 
degree,  of  any  State,  and  in  an  absolute  degree  of  most  of 
the  States.  True,  if  the  drinking  habit  were  not  so  power- 


534 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


fill  and  universal,  it  might  he  somewhat  different.  But  now 
every  little  hamlet  and  almost  every  house  sends  forth  its 
cry  and  holds  out  its  money  to  the  whole  land  and  to  the 
whole  earth,  begging  for  strong  drink.  It  can  be  made 
everywhere,  and,  under  the  protection  of  the  armies  and 
navies  of  the  nation,  and  of  the  world  if  it  come  from  beyond 
the  seas,  alcohol,  in  the  original  packages,  can  be  rolled  into 
the  cellar  of  every  cabin  as  well  as  every  palace  in  the  coun- 
try. But  how  inadequate  and  what  a misnomer  is  any  such 
thing  as  a prohibitory  law  which  can  only  forbid  the  sale  to 
the  consumer  in  a State  ! and  how  much  more  so  one  which 
is  operative  only  for  the  same  purpose  in  a county  or  town  ! 
Even  the  State  constitutional  amendments,  which  prohibit 
the  manufacture  as  well  as  the  sale,  must  fail  — inevitably 
fail.  In  the  very  nature  of  things,  there  is  and  there  can  be 
no  remedy  but  in  a national  constitutional  prohibitory  law. 
It  will  be  time  enough  to  cry  that  prohibition  does  not  pro- 
hibit when  prohibition  has  been  tried.  The  State  of  Maine 
has  very  greatly  improved  the  condition  of  her  people  by 
the  operation  of  her  quasi-prohibitory  law  ; so  of  New  Hamp- 
shire and  Vermont.  Ask  any  old  resident  of  any  one  of 
these  States  and  he  will  tell  you,  yea.  A politician  with  a 
flask  in  his  pocket  or  a liquor  drummer  from  Boston  might 
bewail  the  failure  of  the  prohibitory  law  in  those  States,  but 
I consider  these  laws,  imperfect  as  they  are  in  all  save 
their  motive,  in  their  practical  operation  miracles  of  good : 
and,  considering  the  existing  appetite, — which  antedated 
the  law  and  the  existence  of  which  was  the  cause  of  the 
attempted  reform, — the  enormous  and  concentrated  capital 
and  action  protected  by  nearly  all  State  and  the  over- 
whelming power  of  national  law  which  makes  the  stuff  any- 
where and  carries  it,  everywhere,  I say  deliberately  that  not 
even  the  law  against  murder  is  any  better  enforced  than 
these  poor,  halting  paragraphs  of  infantile  legislation,  nick- 
named prohibitory  laws.  A truly  prohibitory  law  must  have 
jurisdiction  of  the  evil,  and  of  its  physical  causes  from  their 
origin  to  their  end.  The  nation  alone  can  assert  that  full 
jurisdiction  and  exercise  the  necessary  power. 

We  have  been  one  hundred  years  convincing  science,  re- 
ligion, the  professions,  the  judges  who  administer  the  crirn- 


WASHINGTONIAN  MORAL,  SUASION  INSUFFICIENT.  535 


inal  laws,  and  the  great  mass  of  the  people,  that  alcohol  is 
poison,  and  that  its  manufacture,  sale  and  use  is  the  organ- 
ized destruction  of  individuals  and  the  body-politic.  The 
nature  of  the  legislation  which  is  to  remove  and  renovate  all 
is  now  to  be  considered  and  enacted  and  enforced.  ’Who- 
ever believes  that  the  destruction  of  the  liquor  traffic  is  not 
a national  issue  has  made  a mistake.  Whoever  does  not 
comprehend  that  the  removal  of  that  evil  is  a duty,  which 
the  nation  is  about  to  perform,  fails  to  discern  the  signs  of 
the  times.  Eveiy where  the  question  is  up.  In  the  North 
and  in  the  South  ; in  Massachusetts,  New  York  and  Ohio  ; 
throughout  the  West  and  the  South-west ; in  every  State  the 
agitation  is  irrepressible,  because  the  evil  is  gigantic  and 
omnipresent.  It  is  impossible  to  suppress  these  convulsive 
efforts  of  the  social  system  to  free  itself  of  this  foreign  and 
destructive  element.  It  must  be  eliminated  or  society  will 
die.  It  is  of  no  use  to  cry  peace,  for  there  is  no  peace. 
Peace  without  a complete  cure  would  lie  the  most  dangerous 
symptom.  It  would  indicate  the  destruction  of  vital  power, 
presaging  decline  and  death. 

The  American  people  must  do  something. 

'What  had  we  best  do  next? 

The  Washingtonian  movement  swept  over  the  country,  some 
fifty  years  ago,  like  a tidal  wave  from  the  sea  of  life.  That 
movement  was  moral  suasion  in  its  most  powerful  manifesta- 
tion. The  great  wave  subsided,  and  the  enemy  came  in 
once  more  like  a flood  of  fire,  and  there  be  those  who  believe 
that  the  last  state  was  worse  than  the  first.  Was,  then,  the 
Washingtonian  movement  wrong?  Nay,  verily,  but  it  was 
incomplete.  The  tremendous  public  opinion  which  the  dis- 
cussion evoked  should  have  been  crystallized  into  the  endur- 
ing forms  of  State  and  national  law.  The  triumph  then 
would  have  been  complete  and  the  work  secure.  We  have 
at  last  learned  something;  and  we  are  still  learning  more  and 
more,  that  it  is  what  we  save  that  makes  us  rich.  Deposit 
all  the  savings  of  reform  in  the  solid  banks  of  constitutional 
and  statutory  legislation,  State  and  national,  and  the  liquor 
traffic  will  not  pauperize  this  generation  of  laborers  in  the 
field  of  temperance  reform.  We  shall  have  a most  precious 
inheritance  to  leave  to  the  generation  which  comes  after  us. 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


536 

We  shall  not  repeat  the  mistake  of  our  fathers.  Whatever  we 
advance  we  shall  hold  by  the  authority  of  law.  The  one  all- 
essential thing  remaining  to  he  done  is  to  put  forth  every  effort 
to  secure  political  action.  State  political  action  is  important, 
but  national  political  action  is  all-important.  I have  endeav- 
ored to  indicate  why  it  is  indispensable,  and  the  only  action 
which  can  render  that  of  the  States  either  permanent  or 
efficient.  If  either  should  wait  for  the  other,  by  all  means 
let  the  States  wait  on  the  nation  ; let  all  the  people  of  all  the 
States  concentrate  upon  one  grand  effort  to  amend  the 
national  constitution,  so  as  to  prohibit  the  manufacture,  the 
sale,  the  importation,  the  exportation  and  the  transportation 
of  alcoholic  beverages  anywhere  within  the  limits  of  the 
national  domain.  That  is  the  way  to  rescue  and  preserve 
the  States.  It  is  easy  thus  to  create  the  popular  sentiment 
which  must  exist  within  the  States  in  order  that  legislation 
may  be  secured  in  their  several  jurisdictions.  The  evil  is 
national,  and  the  war  which  saves  the  nation  must  be  fought 
by  the  nation.  The  constitution,  now  the  charter  of  the 
rum  power,  is  to  be  amended  by  securing  a two-thirds  vote 
of  both  houses  of  Congress,  submitting  a proposition  for  that 
purpose  to  the  States  for  their  action,  and  its  approval  by 
three-fourths  of  the  entire  number  of  the  States.  The  Pres- 
ident has  nothing  to  do  with  the  submission  of  the  proposed 
amendment  to  the  States,  because  he  legislates  only  by  veto, 
which  is  nullified  by  a two-thirds  vote  of  the  two  houses,  and 
a two-thirds  vote  must  be  secured  in  its  favor  in  the  first 
place.  Between  the  submission  to  the  States  and  ratification 
by  three-fourths  of  the  States,  a considerable  period  might, 
undoubtedly  would,  elapse,  but  we  should  succeed  in  the 
end.  All  the  energy  of  the  reform  throughout  the  nation 
could  be  concentrated  upon  the  States  one  after  another,  and 
L sincere^  believe  that,  once  before  the  people,  we  can  com- 
plete the  work  in  five  years  time.  Nationally,  little  com- 
paratively important,  can  be  done  now  but  to  get  two-thirds 
of  both  houses  of  Congress  to  vote  to  submit  the  proposed 
amendment  to  the  people.  It  is  nothing  to  us  whether  a 
senator  or  a representative  be  a Democrat  or  a Republican,  a 
Prohibitory  party  man  or  a Labor  man,  whether  he  is  for 
license  or  prohibition,  provided  he  will  vote  to  take  the 


Mrs.  J.  K . Barney , 

of  Rhode  Island. 


TUE  PEOHIBITOUV  AMENDMENT  IN  1890. 


537 


sense  of  the  people  upon  such  a proposed  amendment.  That 
is  what  we  want  of  him  now.  Only  this  and  nothing  more. 
What  honest  man  can  say  that  this  request  is  unreasonable  ? 
What  political  party  which  cares  for  political  freedom  can 
deny  to  the  millions  who  desire  to  be  heard  upon  this  tre- 
mendous question  of  the  amendment  of  the  constitution  of 
the  country,  so  as  to  preserve  the  existence  of  our  nation  and 
of  our  civilization  before  the  only  tribunal  which  can  decide 
it,  the  exercise  of  this  fundamental  right  ? We  ask  no  man 
or  party  now  to  pledge  himself  to  advocate  the  amendment 
before  the  people ; we  will  take  care  of  that  when  we  cet  to 
the  people.  But  we  demand  that  he  shall  give  to  us  and  that 
political  parties  shall  give  to  us  a chance  to  be  heard  in  the 
proper  forum  — the  forum  of  the  people  — which  is  our 

right.  It  is  our  concern,  not  his  or  theirs,  whether  we  are 

defeated  or  not  when  we  reach  the  people  of  the  several 

States.  This  is  the  temperance  issue  now  rising  in  this 

whole  land,  and,  until  this  is  decided,  no  party,  man  or  fac 
tion  can  project  one  of  comparatively  serious  importance 
into  national  politics.  There  is  temperance  sentiment 
enough  to  choose  a two-thirds  vote  in  favor  of  submitting 
such  an  amendment  to  the  people  in  the  very  next  House  of 
Representatives,  provided  it  would  go  into  the  primaries  and 
the  conventions  of  political  parties  now  existing,  and  then 
support  in  good  faith  at  the  polls  the  man  who  should  have 
been  pledged  to  submit  the  amendment  to  the  people  of  the 
States.  The  Senate  would  surely  vote  immediately  with  the 
House  upon  this  proposition.  This  amendment  might  be 
thus  submitted  to  the  people  in  1890,  and  the  amendment 
itself  become  a part  of  the  law  of  the  land  before  the  close  of 
the  century. 

Oh,  fools  and  blind  ! Can  we  not  discern  the  signs  of  the 
times  ? 

No  more  mistakes  should  be  made.  The  working  people 
of  this  country  are  with  us,  and  the  whole  temperance  vote 
should  combine  for  the  submission  of  such  an  amendment. 
Control  the  primaries  and  nominating  conventions.  They 
are  the  hiding-places  of  political  power.  This  ought  not  to 
be  a party  question  ; there  should  be  unanimity  in  a matter 
like  this,  but  I fear  we  can  not  hope  so  much  as  this  for 


THE  TEMPEUANCE  MOVEMENT. 


538 

our  country.  It  would  be  the  millennium.  But  let  us  try. 
Some  party  will  adopt  the  issue  and  in  this  sign  conquer. 

I have  thus  endeavored  to  answer  the  question,  what  had 
better  next  be  done  in  the  temperance  reform.  Every  man, 
woman  and  child  is  interested  in  the  answer  ; future  genera- 
tions depend  upon  that  answer  for  their  destiny  of  weal  or  of 
woe.  Without  undervaluing  local  and  State  agitation  and 
legislation,  let  us  concentrate  every  energy  and  effort  upon 
the  one  great  work  of  securing  the  submission  of  a proposed 
national  amendment  to  the  people  of  the  States.  Then  we 
shall  have  before  us  a period  of  agitation  in  the  States  for  its 
ratification  there.  Thus  we  shall  have  regenerated  the  con- 
stitution, and  the  tremendous  powers  of  the  nation  will  soon 
throttle  this  Giant  Despair,  who  is  feeding  by  day  and  by 
night  upon  the  bodies  and  souls  of  our  countrymen.  Let  us 
wisely  conserve  our  forces  and  our  votes.  Peaceful  agencies, 
if  wisely  employed,  will  accomplish  the  grand  result.  Nu- 
merous issues,  essential  to  the  public  welfare,  are  always 
pending,  and  great  parties  which  are  entrusted  with  national 
control  must  embrace  and  simultaneously  deal  with  them  all 
or  perish,  for  they  have  no  right  to  exist  after  they  decline 
or  fail  to  promote  the  public  good. 

Each  man  must  decide  for  himself  the  method  of  his  action. 
Let  us,  however,  at  least  concentrate  upon  the  things  to  be 
done,  that  the  tremendous  forces  now  dissipated  in  the  sand 
may  become  a mighty  torrent  of  beneficence  and  sweep  away 
the  nation’s  curse.  Abating  no  whit  of  effort  in  the  way  of 
instruction  or  persuasion,  increasing  the  activity  of  all  the 
agencies  now  employed  to  influence  individual  municipal 
organizations  and  States,  let  us  lift  up  the  mighty  banner  of 
National  Constitutional  Prohibition.  Let  us  ourselves  con- 
template the  subject  from  this  higher  elevation. 

The  nation  refuses  to  permit  the  importation  of  criminals 
— then  let  us  prohibit  the  importation  of  the  cause  of  crimi- 
nals and  of  crimes.  We  refuse  to  receive  the  paupers  and 
outcasts  of  surrounding  nations  — then  let  us  repel  from  our 
borders  the  primal  source  of  poverty,  wretchedness  and 
despair.  What  we  refuse  to  receive  from  abroad  shall  we 
continue  to  manufacture  and  export?  What  we  refuse,  or 
ought  to  refuse  to  import  or  export,  because  of  its  malignant 


THE  CAUCUS,  THE  PRIMARY,  THE  CONVENTION.  539 


and  destructive  work,  shall  we  as  a nation  continue  to  manu- 
facture, distribute  and  consume  among  ourselves?  Shall  we 
longer  divide  and  destroy  the  result  of  our  most  zealous 
efforts  among  the  people  and  in  the  States  by  permitting  the 
national  constitution  and  national  power,  within  their  sphere 
the  supreme  law  of  the  land,  to  protect  the  manufacture,' the 
distribution  and  the  wholesale  trade  in  this  merchandise  of 
death?  Nay,  verily,  if  the  new  century  is  to  complete  the 
temperance  reform  there  is  but  one  way  to  accomplish  it  — 
National  Prohibition  must  be  our  watchword. 

Let  this  issue  be  carried  into  every  caucus  and  primary  for 
choice  of  delegates,  and  into  every  congressional  convention 
of  every  party  at  the  next  election  and  every  election  ; and 
let  every  voter  make  this  issue  one  of  the  great  tests  of  party 
fealty.  Let  the  same  issue  be  made  in  the  caucuses  which 
nominate  the  Legislatures  who  make  senators  of  the  United 
States,  and  thus  choose  members  of  both  Houses  of  Con- 
gress who  will  demand  for  the  people  whom  they  represent, 
the  opportunity  to  be  heard  in  the  forum  of  the  States  for 
the  amendment  and  regeneration  of  the  constitution  of  the 
country,  so  that  this  sacred  instrument  shall  become  the  war- 
rant for  the  destruction,  and  no  longer  the  charter  of  life  and 
liberty  to  the  most  terrible  curse  and  crime  of  civilization. 
This  seems  to  me  to  be  what  we  had  better  do  next.  The 
first  great  national  step  taken,  the  amendment  to  the  national 
constitution  submitted,  the  amendment  ratified  by  three- 
fourths  of  the  States,  the  general  government  clothed  with 
jurisdiction  to  prohibit  the  manufacture,  sale,  importation, 
exportation  and  transportation  of  intoxicating  drinks  to  be 
used  as  a beverage,  legislation  to  that  end  placed  upon  the 
statute-book  of  the  land,  both  State  and  national  authorities 
harmoniously  combining  for  the  destruction  of  the  traffic, 
public  sentiment  awakened  everywhere  by  this  broad  and 
universal  agitation,  fused  and  consolidated  and  hurled  by  the 
arm  of  the  whole  people,  will  strike  with  the  unity  and 
power  of  the  thunderbolt;  and,  when  the  deafening  crash 
and  blinding  glare  and  sulphurous  smoke  and  smell  have 
passed  away,  we  or  our  children  shall  behold  King  Alcohol 
prone  and  dead  in  his  own  gutter  — slain  by  the  lightnings 
of  God. 


540 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT. 


But  there  is  one  thing  more  that  must  lie  done.  We  must 
not  be  satisfied  with  our  own  redemption.  Our  nation  must 
become  an  active  agency  in  the  great  family  of  nations,  for 
the  destruction  of  the  traffic  throughout  the  world. 

The  business  must  be  placed  in  the  process  of  ultimate  ex- 
tinction everywhere.  One  nation  in  earnest  can  set  all  the 
needed  machinery  in  motion.  Let  us  build  our  navy,  outlaw 
the  liquor  traffic,  declare  it  piracy  when  conducted  on  the 
high  seas,  and  suppress  it  with  shot  and  shell.  It  is  worse 
than  the  trade  in  slaves.  Capture  or  sink  every  ship  that 
carries  the  contraband  article,  and  give  it  to  the  waves.  No 
nation  will  long  contend  for  this  traffic  against  the  sincere 
and  aggressive  action  of  the  American  people.  Nearly  or 
quite  every  Christian  nation  'would,  after  a brief  period  of 
agitation,  join  in  a general  international  declaration  against 
the  trade  and  for  its  suppression.  Whatever  the  world  will 
not  tolerate  on  the  high  seas,  or  as  an  article  of  international 
exchange,  will  soon  cease  to  be  tolerated  within  the  home 
jurisdiction  of  the  separate  nations  which  make  up  the  whole. 

Let  America  take  her  position.  Ah  ! if  we  only  were  in 
possession  of  our  own  government ! If  we  were  only  in 
earnest  ourselves  ! Then,  what  might  we  not  do  next? 


APPENDIX. 


THE  KANSAS  CASES. 


DECISION  OF  THE  SUPREME  COURT  OF  THE  UNITED 

STATES. 


Nos.  19,  20,  and  934. — October  Term,  1887. 


Peter  Mugler,  Plaintiff  in  Error, 

vs. 

The  State  of  Kansas. 


4 In  error  to  the  Supreme 
> Court  of  the  State  of 
j Kansas. 


Peter  Mugler,  Plaintiff  in  Error, 

vs. 

The  State  of  Kansas. 


}In  error  to  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  State  of 
Kansas. 


The  State  of  Kansas,  ex  rel.  J.  F.  Tufts, 
Assistant  Attorney-General  of  the  State 
of  Kansas  for  Atchison  County,  Kan- 
sas, Appellant, 

vs. 

Herman  Ziebold  and  Joseph  Hagelin, 
partners  as  Ziebold  & Hagelin. 


Appeal  from  the  Cir- 
cuit Court  of  the  Unit- 
ed States  for  the  Dis- 
trict of  Kansas. 


[. December  5th,  1887.] 

Mr.  Justice  Harlan  delivered  the  opinion  of  the  Court. 


These  cases  involve  an  inquiry  into  the  validity  of  certain  stat- 
utes of  Kansas  relating  to  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicat- 
ing liquors. 

'Phc  first  two  are  indictments,  charging  Mugler,  the  plaintiff  in 
error,  in  one  case,  with  having  sold,  and  in  the  other,  with  having 
manufactured,  spirituous,  vinous,  malt,  fermented,  and  other  intoxi- 
cating liquors,  in  Saline  County,  Kansas,  without  having  the  license 

(541 ) 


542 


APPENDIX. 


or  permit  required  by  the  statute.  The  defendant,  having  been 
found  guilty,  was  lined,  iu  each  case,  one  hundred  dollars,  and 
ordered  to  be  committed  to  the  county  jail  until  the  fine  was  paid. 
Each  judgment  was  affirmed  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  Kansas,  and 
thereby,  it  is  contended,  the  defendant  was  denied  rights,  privi- 
leges, and  immunities  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States. 

The  third  case — Kansas  v.  Zicbold  & Hagelin — was'  commenced 
by  petition  filed  in  one  of  the  courts  of  the  State.  The  relief  sought 
is:  1.  That  the  group  of  buildings  in  Atchison  County,  Kansas, 
constituting  the  brewery  of  the  defendants,  partners  as  Ziebold  & 
Hagelin,  be  adjudged  a common  nuisance,  and  the  sheriff  or  other 
proper  officer  directed  to  shut  up  and  abate  the  same.  2.  That  the 
defendants  be  enjoined  from  using,  or  permitting  to  be  used,  the 
said  premises  as  a place  'where  intoxicating  liquors  may  be  sold, 
bartered,  or  given  away,  or  kept  for  barter,  sale,  or  gift,  otherwise 
than  by  authority  of  law. 

The  defendants  answered,  denying  the  allegations  of  the  petition, 
and  averring : First.  That  said  buildings  were  erected  by  them 
prior  to  the  adoption,  by  the  people  of  Kansas,  of  the  constitution- 
al amendment  prohibiting  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating 
liouors  for  other  than  medicinal,  scientific,  and  mechanical  purposes, 
and  before  the  passage  of  the  prohibitory  liquor  statute  of  that 
State.  Second.  That  they  were  erected  for  the  purpose  of  manu- 
facturin'! beer,  and  cannot  be  put  to  any  other  use  ; and.  if  not  so 
used,  they  will  be  of  little  value.  Third.  That  the  statute  under 
which  said  suit  is  brought  is  void  under  the  Fourteenth  Amendment 
of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

Upon  the  petition  and  bond  of  the  defendants  the  cause  was  re- 
moved into  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  District 
of  Kansas  upon  the  ground  that  the  suit  was  one  arising  under  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States.  Amotion  to  remand  it  to  the 
State  court  was  denied.  The  pleadings  were  recast  so  as  to  conform 
to  the  equity  practice  in  the  courts  of  the  United  States  ; and,  the 
cause  having  been  heard  upon  bill  and  answer,  the  suit  was  dis- 
missed. From  that  decree  the  State  prosecutes  an  appeal. 

By  a statute  of  Kansas,  approved  March  3,  1868,  it  was  made  a 


APPENDIX. 


54-3 


raisdemeador,  punishable  by  fine  and  imprisonment,  for  any  one, 
directly  or  indirectly,  to  sell  spirituous,  vinous,  fermented,  or  other 
intoxicating  liquors,  without  having  a dram-shop,  tavern,  or  grocery 
license.  It  wras,  also,  enacted,  among  other  things,  that  every 
place  where  intoxicating  liquors  were  sold  in  violation  of  the  stat- 
ute should  be  taken,  held,  and  deemed  to  be  a common  nuisance  ; 
and  it  was  required  that  all  rooms,  taverns,  eating-houses,  bazaars, 
restaurants,  groceries,  coffee-houses,  cellars,  or  other  places  of 
public  resort  where  intoxicating  liquors  wrere  sold,  in  violation  of 
law,  should  be  abated  as  public  nuisances.  Gen.  Stat.  Kansas, 
1868,  ch.  35. 

But,  in  1880,  the  people  of  Kansas  adopted  a more  stringent 
policy.  On  the  2d  of  November  of  that  year,  they  ratified  an 
amendment  to  the  State  constitution,  which  declared  that  the  manu- 
facture and  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  should  be  forever  prohibit- 
ed in  that  State,  except  for  medical,  scientific,  and  mechanical 
purposes. 

In  order  to  give  effect  to  that  amendment,  the  legislature  repeal- 
ed the  act  of  1868,  and  passed  an  act,  approved  February  19,  1S81, 
to  take  effect  May  1,  1881,  entitled  “ An  act  to  prohibit  the  manu- 
facture and  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors,  except  for  medical,  scien- 
tific, and  mechanical  purposes,  and  to  regulate  the  manufacture 
and  sale  thereof  for  such  excepted  purposes.”  Its  first  section 
provides  “ that  any  person  or  persons  who  shall  manufacture,  sell, 
or  barter  any  spirituous,  malt,  vinous,  fermented,  or  other  intoxi- 
cating liquors  shall  be  guilty  of  a misdemeanor  : Provided,  however, 
That  such  liquors  may  be  sold  for  medical,  scientific,  and  mechan- 
ical purposes,  as  provided  in  this  act.”  The  second  section  makes 
it  unlawful  for  any  person  to  sell  or  barter  for  either  of  such  ex- 
cepted purposes  any  malt,  vinous,  spirituous,  fermented,  or  other 
intoxicating  liquors  without  having  procured  a druggist’s  permit 
therefor,  and  prescribes  the  conditions  upon  which  such  permit  may 
be  granted.  The  third  section  relates  to  the  giving  by  physicians 
of  prescriptions  for  intoxicating  liquors  to  be  used  by  their  pa- 
tients ; and  the  fonrth,  to  the  sale  of  such  liquors  by  druggists. 
The  fifth  seetion  forbids  any  person  from  manufacturing  or  assist- 
ing in  the  manufacture  of  intoxicating  liquors  in  the  State,  except 


544 


APPENDIX. 


for  medical,  scientific,  and  mechanical  purposes,  and  makes  provis- 
ion lor  the  granting  of  licenses  to  engage  in  the  business  of  manu- 
facturing liquors  for  such  excepted  purposes.  The  seventh  section 
declares  it  to  be  a misdemeanor  for  any  person,  not  having  the  re- 
quired permit,  to  sell  or  barter,  directly  or  indirectly,  spirituous,  malt, 
vinous,  fermented,  or  other  intoxicating  liquors  ; the  punishment 
prescribed  being,  for  the  first  offence,  a fine  of  not  less  than  one 
hundred  nor  more  than  five  hundred  dollars,  or  imprisonment  in 
the  county  jail  not  less  than  twenty  nor  more  than  ninety  days  ; for 
the  second  offence,  a fine  of  not  less  than  two  hundred  nor  more  than 
than  five  hundred  dollars,  or  imprisonment  in  the  county  jail  not  less 
than  sixty  days  nor  more  than  six  months  ; and  for  every  subsequent 
offence,  a fine  not  less  than  five  hundred  nor  more  than  one  thousand 
dollars,  or  imprisuoment  in  the  count}’  jail  not  less  than  three  months 
nor  more  than  one  year,  or  both  such  fine  and  imprisonment,  in 
the  discretion  of  the  court.  The  eighth  section  provides  for  simi- 
lar fines  and  punishments  against  persons  who  manufacture,  or  aid, 
assist,  or  abet  the  manufacture  of  any  intoxicating  liquors  without 
having  the  required  permit.  The  thirteenth  section  declares,  among 
other  things,  all  places  where  intoxicating  liquors  are  manufactured, 
sold,  bartered,  or  given  away,  or  are  kept  for  sale,  barter,  or  use, 
in  violation  of  the  act,  to  be  common  nuisances  ; and  provides  that 
upon  the  judgment  of  any  court  having  jurisdiction  finding  such 
place  to  be  a nuisance,  the  proper  officer  shall  be  directed  to  shut 
up  and  abate  the  same. 

Under  that  statute,  the  prosecutions  against  Mugler  were  institut- 
ed. It  contains  other  sections  in  addition  to  those  above  referred 
to ; but  as  they  embody  merely  the  details  of  the  general  scheme 
adopted  by  the  State  for  the  prohibition  of  the  manufacture  and 
sale  of  intoxicating  liquors,  except  for  the  purposes  specified,  it  is 
unnecessary  to  set  them  out. 

On  the  7th  of  March,  1885,  the  legislature  passed  an  act  amenda- 
tory and  supplementary  to  that  of  1881.  The  thirteenth  section  of 
the  former  act,  being  the  one  upon  which  the  suit  against  Ziebold 
& Hagelin  is  founded,  will  be  given  in  full  in  a subsequent  part  of 
this  opinion. 

The  facts  necessary  to  a clear  understanding  of  the  questions, 


APPENDIX. 


545 


common  to  these  cases,  are  the  following : Mugler  and  Ziebold  & 
Hagelin  were  engaged  in  manufacturing  beer  at  their  respective  es- 
tablishments, (constructed  specially  for  that  purpose)  for  several 
years  prior  to  the  adoption  of  the  constitutional  amendment  of 
1880.  They  continued  in  such  business  in  defiance  of  the  statute 
of  1S81,  and  without  having  the  required  permit.  Nor  did  Mugler 
have  a license  or  permit  to  sell  beer.  The  single  sale  of  which  he 
was  found  guilty  occurred  in  the  State,  and  after  May  1,  1881,  that 
is,  after  the  act  of  February  19,  1881,  took  effect,  and  was  of  beer 
manufactured  before  its  passage. 

The  buildings  and  machinery  constituting  these  breweries  are  of 
little  value  if  not  used  for  the  purpose  of  manufacturing  beer ; 
that  is  to  say,  if  the  statutes  are  enforced  against  the  defendants 
the  value  of  their  property  will  be  very  materially  diminished. 

The  general  question  in  each  case  is,  whether  the  foregoing  stat- 
utes of  Kansas  are  in  conflict  with  that  clause  of  the  Fourteenth 
Amendment,  which  provides  that  “ no  State  shall  make  or  enforce 
any  law  which  shall  abridge  the  privileges  or  immunities  of  citizens 
of  the  United  States  ; nor  shall  any  State  deprive  any  person  of 
life,  liberty,  or  property,  without  due  process  of  law.” 

That  legislation  by  a State  prohibiting  the  manufacture  within 
her  limits  of  intoxicating  liquors,  to  be  there  sold  or  bartered  for 
general  use  as  a beverage,  does  not  necessarily  infringe  any  right, 
privilege,  or  immunity  secured  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  is  made  clear  by  the  decisions  of  this  court,  rendered  before 
and  since  the  adoption  of  the  Fourteenth  Amendment ; to  some  of 
which,  in  view  of  questions  to  be  presently  considered,  it  will  be 
well  to  refer. 

In  the  License  Cases , 5 How.  504,  the  question  was,  whether  cer- 
tain statutes  of  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  and  New  Hampshire, 
relating  to  the  sale  of  spirituous  liquors  were  repugnant  to  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States.  In  determining  that  question,  it  be- 
came necessary  to  inquire  whether  there  was  any  conflict  between 
the  exercise  by  Congress  of  its  power  to  regulate  commerce  with 
foreign  countries,  or  among  the  several  States,  and  the  exercise  by 
a State  of  what  are  called  police  powers.  Although  the  members 
of  the  court  did  not  fully  agree  as  to  the  grounds  upon  which  the 
35 


546 


APPENDIX. 


decision  should  be  placed,  they  were  unanimous  in  holding  that  the 
statutes  then  under  examination  were  not  inconsistent  with  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  or  with  any  act  of  Congress. 
Chief  Justice  Taney  said  : “If  any  State  deems  the  retail  aud  in- 
ternal traffic  in  ardent  spirits  injurious  to  its  citizens,  and  calculat- 
ed to  produce  idleness,  vice,  or  debauchery,  I see  nothing  in  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  to  prevent  it  from  regulating  and 
restraining  the  traffic,  or  from  prohibiting  it  altogether,  if  it  thinks 
proper.”  Mr.  Justice  McLean,  among  other  things,  said:  “A 
State  regulates  its  domestic  commerce,  contracts,  the  transmission 
of  estates,  real  and  personal,  and  acts  upon  internal  matters  which 
relate  to  its  moral  and  political  welfare.  Over  these  subjects  the 
Federal  government  has  no  power.  . . The  acknowledged  police 

power  of  a State  extends  often  to  the  destruction  of  property.  A 
nuisance  may  be  abated.  Everything  prejudicial  to  the  health  or 
morals  of  a city  may  be  removed.”  Mr.  Justice  Woodbury  observ- 
ed : “ How  can  they  [the  States]  be  sovereign  within  their  respec- 
tive spheres,  without  power  to  regulate  all  their  internal  commerce, 
as  well  as  police,  and  direct  how,  when  and  where  it  shall  be  con- 
ducted in  articles  intimately  connected  either  with  public  morals  or 
public  safety  or  public  prosperity  ? ” Mr.  Justice  Grier,  in  still  more 
emphatic  language,  said:  “The  true  question  presented  by  these 
cases,  and  one  which  I am  not  disposed  to  evade,  is  whether  the 
States  have  a right  to  prohibit  the  sale  and  consumption  of  an  arti- 
cle of  commerce  which  they  believe  to  be  pernicious  in  its  effects, 
and  the  cause  of  disease,  pauperism,  and  crime.  . . Without 

attempting  to  define  what  are  the  peculiar  subjects  or  limits  of  this 
power,  it  may  safely  be  affirmed,  that  every  law  for  the  restraint 
or  punishment  of  crime,  for  the  preservation  of  the  public  peace, 
health  and  morals  must  come  within  this  category.  . . It  is  not 

necessary,  for  the  sake  of  justifying  the  State  legislation  now  under 
consideration,  to  array  the  appalling  statistics  of  misery,  pauper- 
ism and  crime  which  have  their  origin  in  the  use  or  abuse  of  ardent 
spirits.  The  police  power,  which  is  exclusively  in  the  States,  is 
alone  competent  to  the  correction  of  these  great  evils,  and  all 
measures  of  restraint  or  prohibition  necessary  to  effect  the  purpose 
are  within  the  scope  of  that  authority.” 


APPENDIX. 


547 


In  Barteineyer  v.  Iowa,  18  Wall.  129,  it  was  said  that  prior  to 
the  adoption  of  the  Fourteenth  Amendment,  State  enactments, 
regulating  or  prohibiting  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  liquors,  raised  no 
question  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States;  and  that 
such  legislation  was  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  respective  States, 
subject  to  no  other  limitations  than  those  imposed  by  their  own  con- 
stitutions, or  by  the  general  principles  supposed  to  limit  all  legisla- 
tive power.  Referring  to  the  contention  that  the  right  to  sell  in- 
toxicating liquors  was  secured  by  the  Fourteenth  Amendment,  the 
court  said  that  “ so  far  as  such  a right  exists,  it  is  not  one  of  the 
rights  growing  out  of  citizenship  of  the  United  States.”  In  Beer 
Co.  v.  Massachusetts , 97  U.  S.  33,  it  was  said,  that,  “ as  a measure 
of  police  regulation,  looking  to  the  preservation  of  public  morals, 
a State  law  prohibiting  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating 
liquors  is  not  repugnant  to  an)'  clause  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States.”  Finally,  in  Foster  v.  Kansas , 112  U.  S.  206,  the 
court  said  that  the  question  as  to  the  constitutional  power  of  a 
State  to  prohibit  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors 
was  no  longer  an  open  one  in  this  court.  These  cases  rest  upon 
the  acknowledged  right  of  the  States  of  the  Union  to  control  their 
purely  internal  affairs,  and,  in  so  doing,  to  protect  the  health, 
morals,  and  safety  of  their  people  by  regulations  that  do  not  inter- 
fere with  the  execution  of  the  powers  of  the  general  government, 
or  violate  rights  secured  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
The  power  to  establish  such  regulations,  as  was  said  in  Gibbons  v. 
Ogden,  9 Wheat.  203,  reaches  everything  within  the  territory  of  a 
State  not  surrendered  to  the  national  government. 

It  is,' however,  contended,  that,  although  the  State  may  prohibit 
the  manufacture  of  intoxicating  liquors  for  sale  or  barter  within  her 
limits,  for  general  use  as  a beverage,  “ no  convention  or  legislature 
has  the  right,  under  our  form  of  government,  to  prohibit  any  citi- 
zen from  manufacturing  for  his  own  use,  or  for  export,  or  storage, 
any  article  of  food  or  drink  not  endangering  or  affecting  the  rights 
of  others.”  The  argument  made  in  support  of  the  first  branch  of 
this  proposition,  briefly  stated,  is,  that  in  the  implied  compact  be- 
tween the  State  and  the  citizen  certain  rights  are  reserved  by  the 
latter,  which  are  guaranteed  by  the  constitutional  provision  protect- 


548 


APPENDIX. 


ing  persons  against  being  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or  property, 
without  due  process  of  law,  and  with  which  the  State  cannot  inter- 
fere ; that  among  those  rights  is  that  of  manufacturing  for  one’s 
use  either  food  or  drink  ; and  that  while,  according  to  the  doctrines 
of  the  Commune,  the  State  may  control  the  tastes,  appetites, 
habits,  dress,  food,  and  drink  of  the  people,  our  system  of  govern- 
ment, based  upon  the  individuality  and  intelligence  of  the  citizen, 
does  not  claim  to  control  him,  except  as  to  his  conduct  to  others, 
leaving  him  the  sole  judge  as  to  all  that  only  affects  himself. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  proposition,  and  the  argument  made 
in  support  of  it,  equally  concede  that  the  right  to  manufacture 
drink  for  one’s  personal  use  is  subject  to  the  condition  that  such 
manufacture  does  not  endanger  or  affect  the  rights  of  others.  If 
such  manufacture  does  prejudicial! y affect  the  right  and  interests  of 
the  community,  it  follows,  from  the  very  premises  stated,  that  so- 
ciety has  the  power  to  protect  itself,  by  legislation,  against  the  in- 
jurious consequences  of  that  business.  As  was  said  in  Munn  v. 
Illinois , 94  U.  S.  124,  while  power  does  not  exist  with  the  whole 
people  to  control  rights  that  are  purely  and  exclusively  private, 
government  may  require  “ each  citizen  to  so  conduct  himself,  and 
so  use  his  own  property,  as  not  unnecessarily  to  injure  another.” 

But  by  whom,  or  by  what  authority,  is  it  to  be  determined 
whether  the  manufacture  of  particular  articles  of  drink,  either  for 
general  use  or  for  the  personal  use  of  the  maker,  will  injuriously 
affect  the  public?  Power  to  determine  such  questions,  so  as  to 
bind  all,  must  exist  somewhere  ; else  society  will  be  at  the  mercy 
of  the  few,  who,  regarding  only  their  own  appetites  or  passions, 
may  be  willing  to  imperil  the  peace  and  security  of  the  many,  pro- 
vided only  they  are  permitted  to  do  as  they  please.  Under  our  sys- 
tem that  power  is  lodged  with  the  legislative  branch  of  the  govern- 
ment. It  belongs  to  that  department  to  exert  what  are  known  as 
the  police  powers  of  the  State,  and  to  determine,  primarily,  what 
measures  are  appropriate  or  needful  for  the  protection  of  the  pub- 
lic morals,  the  public  health,  or  the  public  safety. 

It  does  not  at  all  follow  that  every  statute  enacted  ostensibly  for 
the  promotion  of  these  ends,  is  to  be  accepted  as  a legitimate  exer- 
cise of  the  police  powers  of  the  State.  There  are,  of  necessity, 


APPENDIX. 


549 


limits  beyond  which  legislation  cannot  rightfully  go.  While  every 
possible  presumption  is  to  be  indulged  in  favor  of  the  validity  of  a 
statute,  {Sinking  Fund  Cases , 99  U.  S.  718,)  the  courts  must  obey 
the  Constitution  rather  than  the  law-making  department  of  govern- 
ment, and  must,  upon  their  own  responsibility,  determine  whether, 
in  any  particular  case,  these  limits  have  been  passed.  “ To  what 
purpose,”  it  was  said  in  Marburg  v.  Madison , 1 Cranch,  137,  167, 
“ are  powers  limited,  and  to  what  purpose  is  that  limitation  commit- 
ted to  writing,  if  these  limits  may,  at  any  time,  be  passed  by  those 
intended  to  be  restrained?  The  distinction  between  a government 
with  limited  and  unlimited  powers  is  abolished,  if  those  limits  do 
not  confine  the  persons  on  whom  they  are  imposed,  and  if  acts 
prohibited  and  acts  allowed  are  of  equal  obligation.”  The  courts 
are  not  bound  by  mere  forms,  nor  are  they  to  be  misled  by  mere 
pretenses.  They  are  at  liberty — indeed,  are  under  a solemn  duty — 
to  look  at  the  substance  of  things,  whenever  they  enter  upon  the 
inquiry  whether  the  legislature  has  transcended  the  limits  of  its 
authority.  If,  therefore,  a statute  purporting  to  have  been  enact- 
ed to  protect  the  public  health,  the  public  morals,  or  the  public 
safety,  has  no  real  or  substantial  relation  to  those  objects,  or  is  a 
palpable  invasion  of  rights  secured  b}7  the  fundamental  law,  it  is 
the  duty  of  the  courts  to  so  adjudge,  and  thereby  give  effect  to  the 
Constitution. 

Keeping  in  view  these  principles,  as  governing  the  relations  of 
the  judicial  and  legislative  departments  of  government  with  each 
other,  it  is  difficult  to  perceive  any  ground  for  the  judiciary  to  de- 
clare that  the  prohibition  by  Kansas  of  the  manufacture  or  sale, 
within  her  limits,  of  intoxicating  liquors  for  general  use  there  as  a 
beverage,  is  not  fairly  adapted  to  the  end  of  protecting  the  com- 
munity against  the  evils  which  confessedly  result  from  the  exces- 
sive use  of  ardent  spirits.  There  is  no  justification  for  holding 
that  the  State,  under  the  guise  merely  of  police  regulations,  is  here 
aiming  to  deprive  the  citizen  of  his  constitutional  rights  ; for  we 
cannot  shut  out  of  view  the  fact,  within  the  knowledge  of  all,  that 
the  public  health,  the  public  morals,  and  the  public  safety,  may  be 
endangered  by  the  general  use  of  intoxicating  drinks  ; nor  the 
fact,  established  by  statistics  accessible  to  every  one,  that  the  idle- 


550 


APPENDIX. 


ness, -disorder,  pauperism,  and  crime  existing  in  the  country  are, 
in  some  degree  at  least,  traceable  to  this  evil.  If,  therefore,  a 
State  deems  the  absolute  prohibition  of  the  manufacture  and  sale, 
within  her  limits,  of  intoxicating  liquors  for  other  than  medical, 
scientific,  and  manufacturing  purposes,  to  be  necessary  to  the  peace 
and  security  of  society,  the  courts  cannot,  without  usurping  legisla- 
tive functions,  override  the  will  of  the  people  as  thus  expressed  by 
their  chosen  representatives.  They  have  nothing  to  do  with  the 
mere  policy  of  legislation.  Indeed,  it  is  a fundamental  principle  in 
our  institutions,  indispensable  to  the  preservation  of  public  liberty, 
that  one  of  the  separate  departments  of  government  shall  not  usurp 
powers  committed  by  the  Constitution  to  another  department.  And 
so,  if  in  the  judgment  of  the  legislature,  the  manufacture  of  intoxi- 
cating liquors  for  the  maker’s  own  use,  as  a beverage,  would  tend 
to  cripple,  if  it  did  not  defeat,  the  effort  to  guard  the  community 
against  the  evils  attending  the  excessive  use  of  such  liquors,  it  is 
not  for  the  courts,  upon  their  vietvs  as  to  what  is  best  and  safest 
for  the  community,  to  disregard  the  legislative  determination  of 
that  question.  So  far  from  such  a regulation  having  no  relation  to 
the  general  end  sought  to  be  accomplished,  the  entire  scheme  of 
prohibition,  as  embodied  in  the  constitution  and  laws  of  Kansas, 
might  fail,  if  the  right  of  each  citizen  to  manufacture  intoxicating 
liquors  for  his  own  use  as  a beverage  were  recognized.  Such  a 
right  does  not  inhere  in  citizenship..  Nor  can  it  be  said  that  gov- 
ernment interferes  with  or  impairs  any  one’s  constitutional  rights  of 
liberty  or  of  property,  when  it  determines  that  the  manufacture  and 
sale  of  intoxicating  drinks,  for  general  or  individual  use,  as  a bev- 
erage, are,  or  may  become,  hurtful  to  society,  and  constitute,  there- 
fore, a business  in  which  no  one  may  lawfully  engage.  Those 
rights  are  best  secured,  in  our  government,  b}'  the  observance,  upon 
the  part  of  all,  of  such  regulations  as  are  established  by  competent 
authority  to  promote  the  common  good.  No  one  may  rightfully  do 
that  which  the  law-making  power,  upon  reasonable  grounds,  de- 
clares to  be  prejudicial  to  the  general  welfare. 

This  conclusion  is  unavoidable,  unless  the  Fourteenth  Amend- 
ment of  the  Constitution  takes  from  the  States  of  the  Union  those 
powers  of  police  that  -were  reserved  at  the  time  the  original  Consti- 


APPENDIX. 


551 


tution  was  adopted.  But  this  court  has  declared,  upon  full  consid- 
eration,  in  Barbier  v.  Connolly , 113  U.  S.  31,  that  the  Fourteenth 
Amendment  had  no  such  effect.  After  observing,  among  other 
things,  that  that  amendment  forbade  the  arbitrary  deprivation  of 
life  or  liberty,  and  the  arbitrary  spoliation  of  property,  and  secur- 
ed equal  protection  to  all  under  like  circumstances,  in  respect  as 
well  to  their  personal  and  civil  rights  as  to  their  acquisition  and 
enjoyment  of  property,  the  court  said:  “But  neither  the  amend- 
ment— broad  and  comprehensive  as  it  is — nor  any  other  amendment, 
was  designed  to  interfere  with  the  power  of  the  State,  sometimes 
termed  its  police  power,  to  prescribe  regulations  to  promote  the 
health,  peace,  morals,  education,  and  good  order  of  the  people,  and 
to  legislate  so  as  to  increase  the  industries  of  the  State,  develop  its 
resources,  and  add  to.  its  wealth  and  prosperity/’ 

Undoubtedly  the  State,  when  providing,  by  legislation,  for  the 
protection  of  the  public  health,  the  public  morals,  or  the  public 
safety,  is  subject  to  the  paramount  authority  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  and  may  not  violate  rights  secured  or  guaranteed 
by  that  instrument,  or  interfere  with  the  execution  of  the  powers 
confided  to  the  general  government.  Henderson  v.  Mayor  of  Heiv 
York,  92  U.  S.  259  ; Railroad  Co.  v.  Husen , 95  Id.  465  ; Hew  Or- 
leans Gas  Light  Co.  v.  Louisiana  JAght  Co.,  115  Id.  650  ; Walling 
v.  Michigan , 116  Id.  446  ; Yick  Wo  v.  Hopkins,  118  Id.  356  ; Mor- 
gan s Steamship  Co.  v.  Louisiana  Board  of  Health,  Id.  455. 

Upon  this  ground — if  we  do  not  misapprehend  the  position  of 
defendants — it  is  contended  that,  as  the  primary  and  principal  use 
of  beer  is  as  a beverage  ; as  their  respective  breweries  were  erected 
when  it  was  lawful  to  engage  in  the  manufacture  of  beer  for  every 
purpose  ; as  such  establishments  will  become  of  no  value  as  pro- 
pertv,  or,  at  least,  will  be  materially  diminished  in  value,  if  not 
employed  in  the  manufacture  of  beer  for  every  purpose  ; the  pro- 
hibition upon  their  being  so  employed  is,  in  effect,  a taking  of 
property  for  public  use  without  compensation,  and  depriving  the 
citizen  of  his  property  without  due  process  of  law.  In  other  words, 
although  the  State,  in  the  exercise  of  her  police  powers,  may  law- 
fully prohibit  the  manufacture  and  sale,  within  her  limits,  of  intoxi- 
cating liquors  to  be  used  as  a beverage,  legislation  having  that 


552 


APPENDIX. 


object  in  view  cannot  be  enforced  against  those  who,  at  the  time, 
happen  to  own  property,  the  chief  value  of  which  consists  in  its  fit- 
ness for  such  manufacturing  purposes,  unless  compensation  is  first 
made  for  the  diminution  in  the  value  of  their  property,  resulting 
from  such  prohibitory  enactments. 

This  interpretation  of  the  Fourteenth  Amendment  is  inadmissible. 
It  cannot  be  supposed  that  the  State  imtended,  by  adopting  that 
amendment,  to  impose  restraints  upon  the  exercise  of  their  powers 
for  the  protection  of  the  safety,  health,  or  morals  of  the  communi- 
ty. In  respect  to  contracts,  the  obligations  of  which  are  protected 
against  hostile  State  legislation,  this  court  in  Butchers'  Union  Co. 
v.  Crescent  City  Co.,  Ill  U.  S.  751,  said  that  the  State  could  not, 
by  any  contract,  limit  the  exercise  of  her  power  to  the  prejudice  of 
the  public  health  and  the  public  morals.  So,  in  Stone  v.  Mississip- 
pi, 101  U.  S.  816,  where  the  Constitution  was  invoked  against  the 
repeal  by  the  State  of  a charter,  granted  to  a private  corporation, 
to  conduct  a lottery,  and  for  which  that  corporation  paid  to  the 
State  a valuable  consideration  in  money,  the  court  said : “ No  leg- 
islature can  bargain  away  the  public  health  or  the  public  morals. 
The  people  themselves  cannot  do  it,  much  less  their  servants. 
Government  is  organized  with  a view  to  their  preservation,  and  can- 
not divest  itself  of  the  power  to  provide  for  them.”  Again,  in  New 
Orleans  Gas  Co.  v.  Louisiana  Light  Co.,  115U.  S.  650,  672  : “ The 
constitutional  prohibition  upon  State  laws  impairing  the  obligation  of 
contracts  does  not  restrict  the  power  of  the  State  to  protect 
the  public  health,  the  public  morals,  or  the  public  safety,  as 
the  one  or  the  other  may  be  involved  in  the  execution  of  such 
contracts.  Rights  and  privileges  arising  from  contracts  with  a 
State  are  subject  to  regulations  for  the  protection  of  the  public 
health,  the  public  morals,  and  the  public  safety,  in  the  same  sense, 
and  to  the  same  extent,  as  are  all  contracts  and  all  property, 
whether  owned  by  natural  persons  or  corporations.” 

The  principle,  that  no  person  shall  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or 
property,  without  due  process  of  law,  was  embodied,  in  substance, 
in  the  constitutions  of  nearly  all,  if  not  all,  of  the  States  at  the 
time  of  the  adoption  of  the  Fourteenth  Amendment;  and  it  has 
never  been  regarded  as  incompatible  with  the  principle  equally 


APPENDIX. 


553 


vital,  because  essential  to  the  peace  and  safety  of  society,  that  all 
property  in  this  country  is  held  under  the  implied  obligation  that  the 
owner’s  use  of  it  shall  not  be  injurious  to  the  community.  Seer  Co.  v. 
Massachusetts , 97  U.  S.  32;  Commonwealth  v . Alger , 7 Cush.  53. 
An  illustration  of  this  doctrine  is  afforded  by  Patterson  v.  Kentucky, 
97  U.  S.  501.  The  question  there  was  as  to  the  validity  of  a statute 
of  Kentucky,  enacted  in  1874,  imposing  a penalty  upon  any  one 
selling  or  offering  for  sale  oils  and  fluids,  the  product  of  coal,  pe- 
troleum, or  other  bituminous  substances,  which  would  burn  or  ignite 
at  a temperature  below  130°  Fahrenheit.  Patterson  having  sold, 
within  that  commonwealth,  a certain  oil,  for  which  letters-patent 
were  issued  in  1S67,  but  which  did  not  come  up  to  the  standard  re- 
quired by  said  statute,  and  having  been  indicted  therefor,  disputed 
the  State’s  authority  to  prevent  or  obstruct  the  exercise  of  that  right. 
This  court  upheld  the  legislation  of  Kentucky,  upon  the  ground,  that 
while  the  State  could  not  impair  the  exclusive  right  of  the  patentee, 
or  of  his  assignee,  in  the  discovery  described  in  the  letters-patent, 
the  tangible  property,  the  fruit  of  the  discovery,  was  not  beyond 
control  in  the  exercise  of  her  police  powers.  It  was  said : “ By 
the  settled  doctrines  of  this  court  the  police  power  extends,  at  least, 
to  the  protection  of  the  lives,  the  health,  and  the  property  of  the 
community  against  the  injurious  exercise  by  any  citizen  of  his  own 
rights.  State  legislation,  strictly  and  legitimately  for  police  pur- 
poses, does  not,  in  the  sense  of  the  Constitution,  necessarily  in- 
trench upon  any  authority  which  has  been  confided,  expressly  or 
by  implication,  to  the  national  government.  The  Kentucky  statute 
under  examination  manifest^  belongs  to  that  class  of  legislation. 
It  is,  in  the  best  sense,  a mere  police  regulation,  deemed  essential 
to  the  protection  of  the  lives  and  property  of  citizens.”  Referring 
to  the  numerous  decisions  of  this  court  guarding  the  power  of  Con- 
gress to  regulate  commerce  against  encroachment,  under  the  guise 
of  State  regulations,  established  for  the  purpose  and  with  the  ef- 
fect of  destroying  or  impairing  rights  secured  by  the  Constitution, 
it  was  further  said:  “It  has,  nevertheless,  with  marked  distinct- 
ness and  uniformity,  recognized  the  necessity,  growing  out  of  the 
fundamental  conditions  of  civil  society,  of  upholding  State  police 
regulations  which  were  enacted  in  good  faith,  and  had  appropriate 


554 


APPENDIX. 


and  direct  connection  with  that  protection  to  life,  health,  and  pro- 
perty which  each  State  owes  to  her  citizens.”  See  also  United 
States  v.  Dewitt , 9 Wall.  41  ; License  Tax  Cases,  5 Id.  4G2  ; Per- 
vear  v.  Commonwealth,  Id.  475. 

Another  decision,  very  much  in  point  upon  this  branch  of  the 
case,  is  Fertilizing  Co.  v.  Hyde  Parle,,  97  U.  S.  659,  CG7,  also  de- 
cided after  the  adoption  of  the  Fourteenth  Amendment.  The  court 
there  sustained  the  validity  of  an  ordinance  of  the  village  of  Hyde 
Park,  in  Cook  County,  Illinois,  passed  under  legislative  authority, 
forbidding  any  person  from  transporting  through  that  village  offal 
or  other  offensive  or  unwholesome  matter,  or  from  maintaining  or 
carrying  on  an  offensive  or  unwholesome  business  or  establishment 
within  its  limits.  The  Fertilizing  Company  had,  at  large  expense, 
and  under  authority  expressly  conferred  by  its  charter,  located  its 
works  at  a particular  point  in  the  county.  Besides,  the  charter  of 
the  village,  at  that  time,  provided  that  it  should  not  interfere  with 
parties  engaged  in  transporting  animal  matter  from  Chicago,  or 
from  manufacturing  it  into  a fertilizer  or  other  chemical  product. 
The  enforcement  of  the  ordinance  in  question  operated  to  destroy  the 
business  of  the  company,  and  seriously  to  impair  the  value  of  its 
property.  As,  however,  its  business  had  become  a nuisance  to  the 
community  in  which  it  was  conducted,  producing  discomfort,  and 
often  sickness,  among  large  masses  of  people,  the  court  maintained 
the  authority  of  the  village,  acting  under  legislative  sanction,  to 
protect  the  public  health  against  such  nuisance.  It  said:  “We 
cannot  doubt  that  the  police  power  of  the  State  was  applicable  and 
adequate  to  give  an  effectual  remedy.  That  power  belonged  to  the 
States  when  the  Federal  Constitution  was  adopted.  They  did  not 
surrender  it,  and  they  all  have  it  now.  It  extends  to  the  entire  pro- 
perty and  business  within  their  local  jurisdiction.  Both  are  subject 
to  it  in  all  proper  cases.  It  rests  upon  the  fundamental  principle 
that  every  one  shall  so  use  his  own  as  not  to  wrong  and  injure 
another.  To  regulate  and  abate  nuisances  is  one  of  its  ordinary 
functions.” 

It  is  supposed  by  the  defendants  that  the  doctrine  for  which  they 
contend  is  sustained  by  Puvvpelly  v.  Green  Bay  Co.,  13  Wall.  168. 
But  in  that  view  we  do  not  concur.  That  was  an  action  for  the  re- 


APPENDIX. 


555 


covery  of  damages  for  the  overflowing  of  the  plaintiff’s  land  by 
water,  resulting  from  the  construction  of  a dam  across  a river.  The 
defence  was  that  the  dam  constituted  a part  of  the  system  adopted 
by  the  State  for  improving  the  navigation  of  Fox  and  Wisconsin 
rivers  ; and  it  was  contended  that  as  the  damages  of  which  the 
plaintiff  complained  were  only  the  result  of  the  improvement,  under 
legislative  sanction,  of  a navigable  stream,  he  was  not  entitled  to 
compensation  from  the  State  or  its  agents.  The  case,  therefore, 
involved  the  question  whether  the  overflowing  of  the  plaintiff’s  land, 
to  such  an  extent  that  it  became  practically  unlit  to  be  used,  was  a 
taking  of  property,  within  the  meaning  of  the  constitution  of  Wis- 
consin, providing  that  “ the  property  of  no  person  shall  be  taken  for 
public  use  without  just  compensation  therefor.”  This  court  said  it 
would  be  a very  curious  and  unsatisfactory  result,  were  it  held  that, 
‘‘  if  the  government  refrains  from  the  absolute  conversion  of  real  pro- 
perty to  the  uses  of  the  public,  it  can  destroy  its  value  entirely,  can 
inflict  irreparable  and  permanent  injury  to  any  extent,  can,  in  effect, 
subject  it  to  total  destruction,  without  making  any  compensation, 
because,  in  the  narrowest  sense  of  that  word,  it  is  not  taken  for  the 
public  use.  Such  a construction  would  pervert  the  constitutional 
provision  into  a restriction  upon  the  rights  of  the  citizen,  as  those 
rights  stood  at  the  common  law,  instead  of  the  government,  and 
make  it  an  authority  for  the  invasion  of  private  rights  under  the 
pretext  of  the  public  good,  which  had  no  warrant  in  the  laws  or 
practices  of  our  ancestors.” 

These  principles  have  no  application  to  the  case  under  considera- 
tion. The  question  in  Pumpelly  v.  Green  Bay  Company  arose  un- 
der the  State’s  power  of  eminent  domain  ; while  the  question  now 
before  us  arises  under  what  are,  strictly,  the  police  powers  of  the 
State,  exerted  for  the  protection  of  the  health,  morals,  and  safety 
of  the  people.  That  case,  as  this  court  said  in  Transportation  Co. 
v.  Chicago,  99  U.  S.  642,  was  an  extreme  qualification  of  the  doc- 
trine, universally  held,  that  “ acts  done  in  the  proper  exercise  of 
governmental  powers,  and  not  directly  encroaching  upon  private 
property,  though  these  consequences  may  impair  its  use,”  do  not 
constitute  a taking  within  the  meaning  of  the  constitutional  provis- 
ion, or  entitle  the  owner  of  such  property  to  compensation  from 


556 


APPENDIX. 


the  State  or  its  agents,  or  give  him  any  right  of  action.  It  was  a 
case  in  which  there  was  a “permanent  flooding  of  private  proper- 
ty,” a “ physical  invasion  of  the  real  estate  of  the  private  owner, 
and  a practical  ouster  of  his  possession.”  His  property  was,  in 
effect,  required  to  be  devoted  to  the  use  of  the  public,  and,  conse- 
quently, he  was  entitled  to  compensation. 

As  already  stated,  the  present  case  must  be  governed  bv  princi- 
ples that  do  not  involve  the  power  of  eminent  domain,  in  the  exer- 
cise of  which  property  may  not  be  taken  for  public  use  without 
compensation.  A prohibition  simply  upon  the  use  of  property  for 
purposes  that  are  declared,  by  valid  legislation,  to  be  injurious  to 
the  health,  motals,  or  safety  of  the  community,  cannot  in  any  just 
sense,  be  deemed  a taking  or  an  appropriation  of  property  for  the 
public  benefit.  Such  legislation  does  not  disturb  the  owner  in  the 
control  or  use  of  his  property  for  lawful  purposes,  nor  restrict  his 
right  to  dispose  of  it,  but  is  only  a declaration  by  the  State  that  its 
use  by  any  one,  for  certain  forbidden  purposes,  is  prejudicial  to  the 
public  interests.  Nor  can  legislation  of  that  character  come  within 
the  Fourteenth  Amendment,  in  any  case,  unless  it  is  apparent  that 
its  real  object  is  not  to  protect  the  community,  or  to  promote  the 
general  well-being,  but,  under  the  guise  of  police  regulation,  to  de- 
prive the  owner  of  his  liberty  and  property,  without  due  process  of 
law.  The  power  which  the  States  have  of  prohibiting  such  use  by 
individuals  of  their  property  as  will  be  prejudicial  to  the  health,  the 
morals,  or  the  safety  of  the  public,  is  not — and,  consistently  with 
the  existence  and  safety  of  organized  society,  cannot  be,  burdened 
with  the  condition  that  the  State  must  compensate  such  individual 
owners  for  pecuniary  losses  they  may  sustain,  by  reason  of  their 
not  being  permitted,  by  a noxious  use  of  their  property,  to  inflict 
injury  upon  the  community.  The  exercise  of  the  police  power  by 
the  destruction  of  property  which  is  itself  a public  nuisance,  or  the 
prohibition  of  its  use  in  a particular  way,  whereby  its  value  be- 
comes depreciated,  is  very  different  from  taking  property  for  public 
use,  or  from  depriving  a person  of  his  property  without  due  process 
of  law.  In  the  one  case,  a nuisance  only  is  abated  ; in  the  other,  un- 
offending property  is  taken  away  from  an  innocent  owner. 

It  is  true,  that,  when  the  defendants  in  these  cases  purchased  or 


APPENDIX. 


557 


erected  their  breweries,  the  laws  of  the  State  did  not  forbid  the 
manufacture  of  intoxicating  liquors.  But  the  state  did  not  there- 
by give  any  assurance,  or  come  under  an  obligation,  that  its  legisla- 
tion upon  that  subject  would  remain  unchanged.  Indeed,  as  was 
said  in  Stotie  v Mississippi , 101  U.  S.,  the  supervision  of  the  pub- 
lic health  and  the  public  morals  is  a governmental  power,  “con- 
tinuing in  its  nature,”  and  “to  be  dealt  with  as  the  special  exigen- 
cies of  the  moment  may  require  ; ” and  that,  “ for  this  purpose,  the 
largest  legislative  discretion  is  allowed,  and  the  discretion  cannot 
be  parted  with  any  more  than  the  power  itself.”  So  in  Beer  Co.  v. 
Massachusetts , 97  U.  S.  32  : “ If  the  public  safety  or  the  public 
morals  require  the  discontinuance  of  any  manufacture  or  traffic, 
the  hand  of  the  legislature  cannot  be  stayed  from  providing  for 
its  discontinuance  by  any  incidental  inconvenience  which  individuals 
or  corporations  may  suffer.” 

It  now  remains  to  consider  certain  questions  relating  particularly 
to  the  thirteenth  section  of  the  act  of  1885.  That  section — which 
takes  the  place  of  section  13  of  the  act  of  1881 — is  as  follows: 

“ Sec.  13.  All  places  where  intoxicating  liquors  are  manufactur- 
ed, sold,  bartered,  or  given  away  in  violation  of  any  of  the  provis- 
ions of  this  act,  or  where  intoxicating  liquors  are  kept  for  sale, 
barter  or  delivery  in  violation  of  this  act,  are  hereby  declared  to 
be  common  nuisances,  and  upon  the  judgment  of  any  court  having 
jurisdiction  finding  such  place  to  be  a nuisance  under  this  section, 
the  sheriff,  his  deputy,  or  under  sheriff,  or  any  constable  of  the 
proper  county,  or  marshal  of  any  city  where  the  same  is  located, 
shall  be  directed  to  shut  up  and  abate  such  place  by  taking  posses- 
sion thereof  and  destroying  all  intoxicating  liquors  found  therein, 
together  with  all  signs,  screens,  bars,  bottles,  glasses,  and  other 
property  used  in  keeping  and  maintaining  said  nuisance,  and  the 
owner  or  keeper  thereof  shall,  upon  conviction,  be  adjudged  guilty 
of  maintaining  a common  nuisance,  and  shall  be  punished  by  a fine 
of  not  less  than  one  hundred  dollars  nor  more  than  five  hundred 
dollars,  and  by  imprisonment  in  the  county  jail  not  less  than  thirty 
days  nor  more  than  ninety  days.  The  attorney-general,  county 
attorney,  or  any  citizen  of  the  county  where  such  nuisance  exists,  or 
is  kept,  or  is  maintained,  may  maintain  an  action  in  the  name  of  the 


558 


APPENDIX. 


State  to  abate  and  perpetually  enjoin  the  same.  The  injunction 
shall  be  granted  at  the  commencement  of  the  action,  and  no  bond 
shall  be  required.  Any  person  violating  the  terms  of  any  injunction 
granted  in  such  proceeding,  shall  be  punished  as  for  contempt,  by 
a fine  of  not  less  than  one  hundred  nor  more  than  five  hundred  dol- 
lars, or  by  imprisonment  in  the  county  jail  not  less  than  thirty  days 
nor  more  than  six  months,  or  by  both  such  fine  and  imprisonment, 
in  the  discretion  of  the  court.” 

It  is  contended  by  counsel  in  the  case  of  Kansas  v.  Ziebold  & 
Hagelin , that  the  entire  scheme  of  this  section  is  an  attempt  to  de- 
prive persons  who  come  within  its  provisions  of  their  property  and 
of  their  liberty  without  due  process  of  law ; especially,  when  taken 
in  connection  with  that  clause  of  section  fourteen  (amendatory  of 
section  21  of  the  act  of  1881)  which  provides  that  “ in  prosecutions 
under  this  act,  by  indictment  or  otherwise,  ...  it  shall  not  be 
necessary  in  the  first  instance  for  the  State  to  prove  that  the  party 
charged  did  not  have  a permit  to  sell  intoxicating  liquors  for  the 
excepted  purposes.” 

We  are  unable  to  perceive  anything  in  these  regulations  inconsist- 
ent with  the  constitutional  guarantees  of  liberty  and  property.  The 
State  having  authority  to  prohibit  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  in- 
toxicating liquors  for  other  than  medical,  scientific,  and  mechanical 
purposes,  we  do  not  doubt  her  power  to  declare  that  any  place, 
kept  and  maintained  for  the  illegal  manufacture  and  sale  of  such 
liquors,  shall  be  deemed  a common  nuisance,  and  be  abated,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  to  provide  for  the  indictment  and  trial  of  the  of- 
fender. One  is  a proceeding  against  the  property  used  for  forbid- 
den purposes,  while  the  other  is  for  the  punishment  of  the  offender. 

It  is  said  that  by  the  13th  section  of  the  act  of  1885,  the  legisla- 
ture, finding  a brewery  within  the  State  in  actual  operation,  without 
notice,  trial,  or  hearing,  by  the  mere  exercise  of  its  arbitrary 
caprice,  declares  it  to  be  a common  nuisance,  and  then  prescribes 
the  consequences  which  are  to  follow  inevitably  by  judicial  man- 
date required  by  the  statute,  and  involving  and  permitting  the  ex- 
ercise of  no  judicial  discretion  or  judgment ; that  the  brewery  being 
found  in  operation,  the  court  is  not  to  determine  whether  it  is  a 
common  nuisance,  but,  under  the  command  of  the  statute,  is  to 


APPENDIX. 


559 


find  it  to  be  one  ; that  it  is  not  the  liquor  made,  or  the  making 
of  it,  which  is  thus  enacted  to  be  a common  nuisance,  but  the 
place  itself,  including  all  the  property  used  in  keeping  and  main- 
taining the  common  nuisance  ; that  the  judge  having  thus  signed 
without  inquiry — and,  it  may  be,  contrary  to  the  fact  and  against 
his  own  judgment — the  edict  of  the  legislature,  the  court  is  com- 
manded to  take  possession  by  its  officers  of  the  place  and  shut  it 
up  ; nor  is  all  this  destruction  of  property7,  by  legislative  edict,  to 
be  made  as  a forfeiture  consequent  upon  conviction  of  any  offence, 
but  merely  because  the  legislature  so  commands  ; and  it  is  done  by 
a court  of  equity,  without  any  previous  conviction  first  had,  or  any 
trial  known  to  the  law. 

This,  certainly,  is  a formidable  arraignment  of  the  legislation  of 
Kansas,  and  if  it  were  founded  upon  a just  interpretation  of  her 
statutes,  the  court  would  have  no  difficulty  in  declaring  that  they 
could  not  be  enforced  without  infringing  the  constitutional  rights 
of  the  citizen.  But  those  statutes  have  no  such  scope  and  are  at- 
tended with  no  such  results  as  the  defendants  suppose.  The  court 
is  not  required  to  give  effect  to  a legislative  “ decree”  or  “ edict,” 
unless  every  enactment  by  the  law-making  power  of  a State  is  to  be 
so  characterized.  It  is  not  declared  that  every  establishment  is  to 
be  deemed  a common  nuisance  because  it  may  have  been  maintain- 
ed prior  to  the  passage  of  the  statute  as  a place  for  manufacturing 
intoxicating  liquors.  The  statute  is  prospective  in  its  operation, 
that  is,  it  does  not  put  the  brand  of  a common  nuisance  upon  any 
place,  unless,  after  its  passage,  that  place  is  kept  and  maintained 
for  purposes  declared  by  the  legislature  to  be  injurious  to  the  com- 
munity. Nor  is  the  court  required  to  adjudge  any  place  to  be  a 
common  nuisance  simply  because  it  is  charged  by  the  State  to  be 
such.  It  must  first  find  it  to  be  of  that  character ; that  is,  must 
ascertain,  in  some  legal  mode,  whether  since  the  statute  was  passed 
the  place  in  question  has  been,  or  is  being,  so  used,  as  to  make  it  a 
common  nuisance. 

Equally  untenable  is  the  proposition  that  proceedings  in  equity 
for  the  purposes  indicated  in  the  thirteenth  section  of  the  statutes 
are  inconsistent  with  due  process  of  law.  “In  regard  to  public 
nuisances,”  Mr.  Justice  Story  says,  “the  jurisdiction  of  courts  of 


560 


APPENDIX. 


equity  seems  to  be  of  a very  ancient  date,  and  has  been  distinctly 
traced  back  to  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  The  jurisdiction  is 
applicable  not  only  to  public  nuisances,  strictly  so  called,  but  also 
to  purprestures  upon  public  rights  and  property.  ...  In  case 
of  public  nuisances,  properly  so  called,  an  indictment  lies  to  abate 
them,  and  to  punish  the  offenders.  But  an  information,  also,  lies 
in  equity  to  redress  the  grievance  by  way  of  injunction.”  2 Story’s 
Eq.  §§  921,  922.  The  ground  of  this  jurisdiction  in  cases  of  pur- 
presture,  as  well  as  of  public  nuisances,  is  the  ability  of  courts  of 
equity  to  give  a more  speedy,  effectual,  and  permanent  remedy,  than 
can  be  had  at  law.  They  can  not  only  prevent  nuisances  that  are 
threatened,  and  before  irreparable  mischief  ensues,  but  arrest  or 
abate  those  in  progress,  and,  by  prepetual  injunction,  protect  the 
public  against  them  in  the  future  ; whereas  courts  of  law  can  only 
reach  existing  nuisances,  leaving  future  acts  to  be  the  subject  of 
new  prosecutions  or  proceedings.  This  is  a salutary  jurisdiction, 
especially  where  a nuisance  affects  the  health,  morals,  or  safety  of 
the  community.  Though  not  frequently  exercised,  the  power  un- 
doubtedly exists  in  courts  of  equity  thus  to  protect  the  public 
against  injury.  District  Attorney  v.  Lynn  and  Boston  R.  R.  Co., 
16  Gray,  245;  Atty-Genl  v.  N.  J.  Railroad , 3 Green’s  Ch.  139; 
Atty-General  v.  Tudor  Ice  Co.,  104  Mass.  244;  State  v.  Mayor,  5 
Porter  (Ala.),  279,  294  ; Hoole  v.  Atty-General,  22  Ala.  194  ; Atty- 
General  v.  Hunter , 1 Dev.  Eq.  13  ; Atty-  Gen’ l v.  Forbes,  2 Mylne 
& Craig,  123,  129,  133  ; Atty-Gen’lx.  Great  Northern  Railway  Co., 
1 Dr.  & Sm.  161 ; Eden  on  Injunctions,  259  ; Kerr  on  Injunctions 
(2d  ed.),  168. 

As  to  the  objection  that  the  statute  makes  no  provision  for  a jury 
trial  in  cases  like  this  one,  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  such  a mode  of 
trial  is  not  required  in  suits  in  equity  brought  to  abate  a public 
nuisance.  The  statutory  direction  that  an  injunction  issue  at  the 
commencement  of  the  action  is  not  to  be  construed  as  dispensing 
with  such  preliminary  proof  as  is  necessary  to  authorize  an  injunc- 
tion pending  the  suit.  The  court  is  not  to  issue  an  injunction  sim- 
ply because  one  is  asked,  or  because  the  charge  is  made  that  a 
common  nuisance  is  maintained  in  violation  of  law.  The  statute 
leaves  the  court  at  liberty  to  give  effect  to  the  principle  that  an  injunc- 


APPENDIX. 


561 


tion  will  not  be  granted  to  restrain  a nuisance,  except  upon  clear  and 
satisfactory  evidence  that  one  exists.  Here  the  fact  to  be  ascer- 
tained was,  not  whether  a place,  kept  and  maintained  for  purposes 
forbidden  by  the  statute,  was,  per  se,  a nuisance — that  fact  being 
conclusively  determined  by  the  statute  itself — but  whether  the  place 
in  question  was  so  kept  and  maintained.  If  the  proof  upon  that 
point  is  not  full  or  sufficient,  the  court  can  refuse  an  injunction,  or 
postpone  action  until  the  State  first  obtains  the  verdict  of  a jury  in 
her  favor.  In  this  case,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  defendants 
kept  and  maintained  a place  that  is  within  the  statutory  definition 
of  a common  nuisance.  Their  petition  for  the  removal  of  the 
cause  from  the  State  court,  and  their  answer  to  the  bill,  admitted 
every  fact  necessary  to  maintain  this  suit,  if  the  statute,  under 
which  it  was  brought,  was  constitutional. 

Touching  the  provision  that  in  prosecutions,  by  indictment  or 
otherwise,  the  State  need  not,  in  the  first  instance,  prove  that  the 
defendant  has  not  the  permit  required  by  the  statute,  we  may  re- 
mark that,  if  it  has  any  application  to  a proceeding  like  this,  it 
does  not  deprive  him  of  the  presumption  that  he  is  innocent  of  any 
violation  of  law.  It  is  only  a declaration  that  when  the  State  has 
proven  that  the  place  described  is  kept  and  maintained  for  the 
manufacture  or  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors — such  manufacture  or 
sale  being  unlawful  except  for  specified  purposes,  and  then  only 
under  a permit — the  prosecution  need  not  prove  a negative,  namely, 
that  the  defendant  has  not  the  required  license  or  permit.  If  the 
defendant  has  such  license  or  permit,  he  can  easily  produce  it,  and 
thus  overthrow  the  prima  facie  case  established  by  the  State. 

A portion  of  the  argument  in  behalf  of  the  defendants  is  to  the 
effect  that  the  statutes  of  Kansas  forbid  the  manufacture  of  intoxi- 
cating liquors  to  be  exported,  or  to  be  carried  to  other  States,  and, 
upon  that  ground,  are  repugnant  to  the  clause  of  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  giving  Congress  power  to  regulate  commerce 
with  foreign  nations  and  among  the  several  States.  We  need  only 
say,  upon  this  point,  that  there  is  no  intimation  in  the  record  that 
the  beer  which  the  respective  defendants  manufactured  was  intend- 
ed to  be  carried  out  of  the  State  or  to  foreign  countries.  And, 
without  expressing  an  opinion  as  to  whether  such  facts  would  have 
36 


562 


APPENDIX. 


constituted  a good  defence,  we  observe  that  it  will  be  time  enough 
to  decide  a case  of  that  character  when  it  shall  come  before  us. 

For  the  reason  stated,  we  are  of  opinion  that  the  judgments  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  Kansas  have  not  denied  to  Mugler,  the  plaint- 
iff in  error,  any  right,  privilege,  or  immunity  secured  to  him  by 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  its  judgment,  in  each 
case,  is,  accordingly,  affirmed.  We  are,  also,  of  opinion  that  the 
Circuit  Court  of  the  United  States  erred  in  dismissing  the  bill  of 
the  State  against  Ziebold  & Hagelin.  The  decree  in  that  case  is 
reversed,  and  the  cause  remanded,  with  directions  to  enter  a decree 
granting  to  the  State  such  relief  as  the  act  of  March  7,  1885, 
authorizes. 


It  is  so  ordered. 


INDEX. 


Absinthe,  44. 

Acade'mie  de  Medecine,  245. 

Adams,  Judge,  Woman’s  Suffrage, 
419. 

Adams,  Professor,  “ Cholera  from  Al- 
cohol,” 86. 

Adulteration  of  liquors,  245,  etc. 

Africa,  269,  foil.,  276,  285,  490,  491, 
516;  population,  516;  has  intoxicat- 
ing juices,  266;  rum  and  rum  traffic, 
265,  268,  282;  east  coast  and  rum 
traffic,  277;  intemperance,  250;  Af- 
rica, Asia,  and  drink,  238;  British 
possessions,  276. 

African  Lakes  Trading  Company,  275. 

African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
and  temperance,  466. 

African  Methodist  Zion  Church  and 
temperance,  465. 

African  slave  trade  and  rum  traffic, 
277. 

Agnew,  C.  R.,  M.D.,  Medical  Decla- 
ration, 123. 

Agricultural  Report,  1880. 

Alabama,  155,  202,  212;  illiteracy,  308. 

Alaska,  202;  liquor  traffic,  213. 

Albany,  N.Y.,  230. 

Alhucassis,  Arabian  discoverer  of  dis- 
tillation, 10,  19;  concealed  inven- 
tion, 121. 

Alcohol:  — Definition  : Arabic  word, 
4;  Webster,  Worcester,  Dunglison, 
United  States  Pharmacopoeia,  Medi- 
cal Lexicon,  Hargreaves,  3.  His- 
tory : discovery  by  Arabian,  Albu- 
cassis,  10,  19 ; concealed  his  inven- 
tion, 121;  invention  concealed  three 
hundred  years  by  doctors  and  chem- 
ists, 117.  Origin  and  Analysis : 
product  of  putrefaction,  not  of  a 
life-process,  12,  13;  only  produced 
from  sugar,  9;  vinous  fermentation, 
the  original,  prehistoric  production, 
1,  2;  chiefly  produced  by  vinous  fer- 
mentation, 8;  chemical  analysis,  5; 
composition  and  analysis,  80;  alco- 
hol and  ethyl,  amyl,  etc.,  4;  17  per 
cent,  in  fermented  liquors,  10;  per 
cent,  in  various  liquors,  Brande, 
Bence  Jones,  Prof.  John  C.  Draper, 
11;  in  liquors,  201.  Character  and 
Properties : narcotic  acrid  poison, 
Cbristison,  70;  neither  a food  nor 
poison,  but  a drug,  Pepper,  158; 
specific  gravity  and  properties,  10 ; 
affinity  for  water,  60;  alcohol,  even 
retaken  from  brain  and  ventricles, 


Alcohol,  continued. 
burned,  56,  57;  anhydrous  by  use  of 
lime,  11.  Investigated  in  the  Body  : 
consumed  or  eliminated,  35;  elimi- 
nation, Richardson,  40;  Anstie,  Dr., 
“one  ounce  not  eliminated,”  60; 
course  in  the  body,  16,  24;  what 
becomes  of  retained  part,  22.  Char- 
acter of  Effects  : on  animals,  leeches, 
frog,  turtles,  fishes,  71  ; kills  life, 
dog  experiments,  71,  etc. ; poison  to 
animals  and  plants,  152;  on  man, 
“ caustic  poison,”  Pereira,  Professor, 
71;  “narcotic  acrid  poison,”  Cliris- 
tison,  70;  “aqua  mortis,”  Ure,  71; 
“ always  poisonous,”  Paine,  Dr.  W., 
140;  poison,  Fontaine,  etc.,  137; 
“ destroys  man,”  Linnaeus,  152; 
stimulant  or  paralyzant,  Billing, 
122, 153 ; poisons  the  blood,  Virchow, 
Boecker,  Sculz,  Beale,  Williams, 
Parker,  84;  poison,  Stille,  125;  poi- 
soning in  Liverpool,  73;  paralyzant, 
145;  induces  sleep,  34;  narcotic. 
Palmer,  A.  B.,  Dr.,  141;  considered 
as  stimulant,  122.  Creates  Disease  : 
alcohol  and  body,  16;  four  stages  of 
action,  31 ; causes  disease,  Richard- 
son, 45;  produces  disease,  opera- 
tion described,  Dickinson,  85 ; effect 
on  stomach,  81,  132;  liver,  50,  51, 
foil.,  5(1 ; kidneys,  50,  51,  foil., 
Bright’s  disease,  91;  heart,  50,  foil., 
122;  Palmer,  144;  prisons  the  blood, 
Virchow,  Boecker,  Sculz,  Beale, 
Williams,  Parker,  84;  lungs,  50, 
foil. ; vital  organs,  Hargreaves,  70 ; 
brain,  nerves,  eye,  Richardson,  49, 
50,  foil.,  Hammond,  67,  68,  also  92, 
132;  apoplexy,  palsy,  92;  on  the 
body,  Richardson,  45,  46;  on  the 
structures  of  the  body,  ibid.,  47;  on 
the  system,  Davis,  133;  on  the  sys- 
tem, Palmer,  141;  kills  by  affecting 
nerve  centres  and  not  by  coagula- 
tion, 57 ; predisposes  to  cholera, 
Jameson,  Mackintosh,  86;  “cholera 
sold  here,”  Professor  Adams,  86; 
diseases  enumerated,  92.  Effects  on 
Mental  Organization : dipsomania, 
mania  a potu,  delirium  tremens,  53; 
insanity  and  idiocy,  “one-half  that 
of  the  world  due  to  alcohol,”  92  ; 
“ thirty  per  cent,  of  insanity  due  to 
alcohol,”  Hargreaves,  94 : St.  Peters- 
burg, Dublin,  Liverpool  Asylums, 
93;  Hargreaves,  Shaftsbury,  Need- 


564 


INDEX. 


Alcohoi.,  continued. 

ham,  and  others,  92,93,224;  “half 
the  idiots,  children  of  intemper- 
ates,”  Howe,  9(i,  224.  Mortality, 
224;  alcohol  and  long  life,  98; 

“ causes  half  the  sickness  and 
death,”  103;  “thirty-three  percent, 
of  sickness  and  death  in  New  York 
City,”  104;  Nielson’s  Statistics,  103; 
also  see  “ Life  Insurance.”  Alcohol 
in  Hereditary  Effect : Aristotle,  Plu- 
tarch, Elam,  etc.,  9G;  “ four  gen- 
erations,” 96;  Staffordshire  clergy- 
man’s wife,  96,  97 ; Ebing,  154 ; he- 
redity and  alcohol,  97,  162,  167, 
etc. ; see  also  Insanity  and  Idiocy. 
Alcohol  considered  as  Food:  “a 
jioison,  can  it  be  a food  ? ” 32 ; “ poi- 
son, not  food,”  Hargreaves,  74;  “al- 
ways poisons,”  Paine,  Dr.  AY.,  140; 
“by  no  ingenuity  a food,”  41; 

“ food  or  poison,”  Stille,  125;  alco- 
hol not  food,  discussion  of  one  hun- 
dred pages,  Hargreaves,  77 ; Anstie 
confuted,  76;  “ not  food,  hut  poison,” 
Dalton,  94;  “a  poison  and  in  no 
sense  a food,”  Rembaugh,  151.  Con- 
sidered as  a Constructive  Food:  con- 
tains no  nitrogen  or  constructive 
substance,  34;  does  it  fatten?  34; 
does  not  build  tissues,  62;  retards 
digestion,  Todd,  Bowman,  Thomp- 
son, Monroe,  Hargreaves,  84 ; “ beef- 
steak 156  times  more  nutritious  than 
wine,”  153;  nutrition,  77;  Anstie 
confuted,  76;  Molescliott’s  Theory, 
alcohol  economizes  food,  exploded, 
75;  retarding  of  change  of  tissues, 
not  healthy  growth,  Hammond, 
Davis,  130.  Considered  as  Force 
and  Muscular  Food:  does  not  pro- 
duce force,  62;  muscular  excite- 
ment, not  muscular  force,  43;  mus- 
cular power,  42;  heat  and  force, 
Prout,  etc..  146;  uses  up  nerve 
power,  Brodie,  lessens  muscular 
force,  Lallemand,  Perrin_,  84.  Con- 
sidered as  Heat  Food:  is  it  heat- 
making? 36;  reduces  animal  heat, 
Richardson,  39;  Liebig's  Theory  on 
slight  investigation,  56;  why  it  does 
not  produce  heat,  analyzed,  40;  at 
first  increases  surface  heat  one  per 
cent.,  but  by  cooling  heart  and  in- 
ternal temperature,  38;  danger  of 
taking  alcohol  to  produce  heat  be- 
cause it  produces  cold.  43;  does  not 
support  combustion,  Markham,  83; 
heat  and  muscular  action,  Richard- 
son, Anstie,  Davis,  130;  reduces 
heat,  Davis,  Prout.  Hammond, 
Smith,  Richardson,  S3;  alcohol  a 
heat-diminisher,  testimony  of  Arc- 
tic travellers,  Ross,  Kane,  Perry, 
Franklin.  McRae,  Greeley,  82;  at 
siege  of  Paris,  “ did  not  warm,  but 
chill,”  152.  Alcohol  as  Medicine  : 
is  it  medicine?  62;  claims  for  it, 
“abundance  of  gastric  juice  may 
for  a time  promote  digestion,”  152; 
“great  value  in  critical  stages  of 
acute  diseases,”  159;  “neither  a 
food  nor  a poison  but  a drug,”  Pep-  ) 


Alcohol,  continued. 
per,  158 ; alcohol  claimed  to  be  ben- 
eficial in  indigestion,  hay-fever, 
pneumonia,  AVilder,  149;  in  heart- 
weakness,  confuted,  Davis,  133-5; 
may  remove  or  abate  any  injurious 
cause,  Palmer,  145;  claims  of  physi- 
cians against  its  use,  150;  “Food 
and  Medicine,”  paper  by  Dr.  N.  S. 
Davis,  129;  119  full. ; is  it  ever  a 
medicine?  116,  117;  Lambert,  114; 
case  of  young  man,  Lambert,  114; 
not  a supposed  use  of  alcohol  which 
cannot  be  surpassed  by  other  medi- 
cine, Davis,  135;  as  sedative  and 
antipyretic  surpassed,  133;  as  ana?s- 
thetic  and  anodyne  surpassed,  Davis, 
133;  “narcotic  or  anaesthetic  effect 
deceptive,”  Palmer,  144;  “not  a 
quart  in  thirty  years,”  Davis,  135; 
“ never  useful  as  a medicine,”  “no 
excuse  for  its  use  as  food  or  medi- 
cine,” Paine,  Dr.  AY.,  140;  “neither 
food  nor  physic,”  Higginbottom, 
140;  letter  of  Hammond,  69;  “use 
a concession  to  prejudice,”  Davis, 
135;  “ heedless  prescription  a stigma 
on  the  profession,”  Wilder,  Aiex., 
Dr.,  148;  “may  be  stricken  from 
curative  agents,”  Hargreaves,  139; 
“better  for  man  were  it  abolished,” 
Hammond,  69;  International  Med- 
ical Declaration,  122.  Alcohol  and 
Labor:  destroys  one-tenth  of  hu- 
man capital,  Bourne,  15;  destroys 
wealth,  194;  alcohol  and  pauperism, 
160,  161,  168,  225.  Alcohol  and 
Crime,  163,  164,  165,  225,  230,  252, 
469,  476;  drunkenness  and  vices, 
346,  469;  Sir  Matthew  Hale  and 
other  judges,  16S,  etc.  Alcohol  in 
Commerce,  14 ; exchange  in  Ocean- 
ica,  281 ; see  also  America,  Europe, 
Asia,  India,  Africa,  Congo  Valley, 
Oceanica,  etc.;  also  Mohammedan- 
ism, etc. ,266.  Alcohol  Characterized 
Powerful  and  Mysterious : Pandora’s 
box,  384;  a destroyer,  343;  tyrant 
compared  with  slavery,  2S4;  king, 
467 ; the  enemy,  427 ; Circean  power 
aiming  to  be  universal,  3;  summed 
up,  Richardson,  55.  “ Alcohol  and 

Man,”  Hargreaves,  AYm.,  Dr.,  136; 
“ Alcohol  and  Science,”  Hargreaves, 
AYm.,  Dr.,  5,  59,  89,  93,  136,  137; 
“Alcohol  as  Food  and  Poison,” 
Hargreaves,  136;  “ Alcohol  in  His- 
tory,” Eddy,  Richard,  D.D.,  246, 
250,  292.  423;  “ Alcohol  in  its  Thera- 
peutic Relations  as  Food  and  Medi- 
cine,” 122. 

“Alcoholic  Enquiry  Commission,” 
the  bill,  179,  217;  presented  in  vain 
to  six  congresses,  195. 

Alcoholism T 94,  95,  and  passim  . 

Aldehyde,  in  the  circulation,  40,  61. 

Ale,  ill;  ale,  beer  and  porter,  221; 
.cost,  216;  fattens  by  its  starch  only, 
34;  Poughkeepsie,'  149;  Albany  in 
pneumonia,  etc.,  149;  Green  ways  for 
indigestion,  AYilder,  149;  ale,  strong, 
per  cent,  alcohol.  12;  European,  per 
cent,  alcohol,  12;  European,  strong, 


INDEX. 


565 


Ale,  continued. 

per  cent,  alcohol,  12;  in  Fall  River, 
192. 

Alexander,  grossly  indulgent,  10  ; 521. 

Alexander,  James  W.,  total  absti- 
nence and  mortality,  10. 

Alexanders,  Christian,  have  worlds  to 
conquer,  302. 

Algeria,  wine,  219. 

Allen,  Professor,  on  alcohol,  120. 

Allen,  Richard,  Rev.,  466. 

Allison,  Judge,  alcohol  and  crime, 
226. 

America,  258,  411,  479;  responsibility 
for  African  intemperance,  267. 

“ America,”  522. 

American  Catholic  Total  Abstinence 
Union,  473,  etc. 

American  Church  Temperance  So- 
ciety, 457,  etc. 

American  Illiteracy,  308,  309,  etc. 

American  Society  for  the  Promotion 
of  Temperance,  1826,  426. 

American  Temperance  Society,  1816, 
456. 

American  Tract  Society,  tract  221, 
428. 

Amherst  College,  293,  455,  456. 

Anderson,  James,  M.  £>.,  Medical 
Declaration,  123. 

Andover,  Professor  Stuart,  456. 

Andrew,  John  A.,  Gov.,  argument  be- 
fore Massachusetts  Legislature,  21, 
453. 

Andrews,  Alfred,  Prof.,  521. 

Anglo-Saxon  race,  238. 

Animals,  killed  by  alcohol,  21,  36, 
137;  Fontaine  and  others,  137;  ani-  | 
mals  and  plants  poisoned  by  alcohol,  i 
152. 

“ Annuaire  de  Statistique,”  244. 

Anstie,  Francis  E.,  M.  D.,  on  alcohol, 

' 59,  60,  132;  doubts  Lallemand,  20; 
investigation,  35;  dog  experiments, 
21,  36;  inferences  from  experiments, 
22;  on  alcohol  non-eliminating,  60; 
on  alcohol  as  food,  149;  as  food  and 
medicine,  ridiculed  by  others,  76; 
on  alcohol  heat  and  muscular,  130; 
stimulants  and  narcotics,  his  theory 
examined,  75;  the  limit  an  ounce  of 
alcohol  in  twenty-four  hours,  114; 
alcohol  and  heredity,  97;  Dr.  Rich- 
ardson examines,  3 '6, foil. 

. Anthony,  Susan  13.,  Mrs.,  Woman’s 
Suffrage,  415,  416,  417,  etc. 

Appleton,  President,  Bowdoin  College, 
456. 

“ Aqua  vitae,  aqua  mortis,”  Ure,  71. 

Arabian  discoverer  of  distillation,  19, 
121,  126;  Arabian  learning  12tli  cen- 
tury, 10. 

Arabic  temperance  speeches  denounce 
England  and  her  rum  traffic,  277. 

Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  280. 

Arctic  experiences  of  alcohol,  138; 
Arctic  travellers,  testimony  on  alco- 
hol, 82. 

Ardent  spirits,  drinkers  and  mortality, 
103;  Kittredge,  430;  “ardent  spirits 
evil  spirits,”  Astley  Cooper,  71. 

Aristotle,  303;  on  hereditary  alcohol- 
ism, 95. 


Arizona,  202;  liquor  traffic,  212;  illit- 
eracy, 30S. 

Arkansas,  155,  202,  212;  illiteracy,  308. 

Arnott,  Neil,  M.  D.,  on  alcohol,  120. 

“ Articles  of  Confederation,”  395. 

Association  Norfolk  County,  Massa- 
chusetts, 1882,  460. 

Australia,  518;  wine,  249. 

Baal,  501. 

Bacchus,  2. 

Baglivi,  alcohol  as  poison,  137. 

Bailey,  George  A.,  head  of  Good  Tem- 
plars in  New  Hampshire,  491;  por- 
trait, 455. 

Bain,  George  W.,  Hon.,  portrait,  163. 

Bakers  of  New  York,  51. 

Ball,  Stephen,  total  abstinence  and 
life  insurance,  111. 

Baltimore,  drink  and  crime,  1870,  164; 
Roman  Catholic  Council,  474,  8; 
Catholic  Total  Abstinence  Union, 
477  ; National  Prison  Congress,  165  ; 
synod,  458 ; Washingtonian  Society, 
1840,  435. 

Baptists,  441 ; Bethel,  447 ; church  and 
temperance,  445,  etc. ; Social  Union, 
522. 

Barasa  — Rum  origin,  letter  of  African 
king,  270. 

Barley,  “ You  can’t  have  it  to  make 
liquor,”  463. 

Barnes,  Frances  J.,  Mrs.,  superintend- 
ent young  women’s  work,  W.  C.  T. 
U.,  516,  524;  portrait,  220. 

Barney,  J.  K.,  Mrs.,  W.  C.  T.  U., 
524;  portrait,  537. 

Barrett,  F.  N.,  drink  bill  of  United 
States,  178.  183;  “ New  York  Gro- 
cer,” 205  foil.,  215. 

Basoutoland,  reformation,  273. 

Bastile,  286. 

Battery  to  Westchester,  227. 

Beale,  Dr.,  “ Alcohol  poisons  the 
blood,”  84. 

Beaumont,  Wm.,  Dr.,  on  Alexis  St. 
Martin,  experiments,  87,  88. 

Beecher,  H.  W.,  “ Intoxicants  de- 
stroy,” 156. 

Beecher,  Lyman,  D.D.,  ordination, 
Plymouth,' Conn.,  425,  426,  453,  456. 

Beer,  from  barley,  analysis,  is  it  food? 
79,  81 ; “ barley  destrojred  to  make,” 
155;  and  bread,  80;  “six  barrels  to 
equal  loaf  of  bread,”  129;  fattens 
only  by  its  starch,  34;  Bavarian, 
Lieliig,  8;  small  per  cent,  alcohol, 
12;  the  most  annualizing  of  liquors, 
112;  Liebig,  Playfair,  Hassels,  129; 
drinkers,  Liebig,  Grindrod,  Ed- 
munds, SO;  English  physicians,  119; 
Davis  and  others,  129;  Muzzey,  86; 
the  trap,  116;  will  it  reform  drunk- 
ards? 293;  and  porter,  221;  and 
whisky,  effects  compared,  112;  beer 
and  Alexis  St.  Martin,  89;  cases  of 
use,  82;  Lager  does  not  diminish 
drunkenness,  81 ; English  woman  in 
Fall  River,  191;  apoplexy  and  palsy, 
92;  and  mortality,  103,  il2;  life  in- 
surance, 109,  111;  murder,  113;  he- 
redity, 113;  traffic  large,  157;  produc- 
tion in  Europe  and  America,  249; 


566 


INDEX. 


Beer,  continued. 

in  Germany  and  United  Kingdom, 
248;  Canada,  214;  England,  240; 
bill.  United  States,  207;  cost,  217; 
drinker,  quaint  definition,  112. 

Belgium,  4'.)0;  patriotic  league,  150. 

Bellafontaine,  Pa.,  synod,  458,  50!). 

Belknap,  Dr.,  with  Kush,  favored  fer- 
mented drinks,  292 ; and  temperance 
424. 

Belshazzar,  10. 

Bengal,  commission,  260. 

Benin,  R.,  Africa,  258 . 

Benson,  B.  F.,  Rev. 

Bent,  M.  A.,  Mrs.,  “ Bugler  of  W.  C. 
T.  U.,”  portrait,  407. 

Berlin,  518;  conference,  282;  congress, 
20G ; and  Free  Congo,  2(i9,  271. 

Berzelius,  living  organisms  in  vinous 
fermentation,  8. 

Bethel,  Baptist,  Boston.  447. 

Bible  Christian  Church  and  temper- 
ance, 459. 

Bible  readers,  W.  C.  T.  U.,  514. 

Billing,  Archibald,  Dr.,  alcohol  a par- 
alyzant, 153. 

Birmingham,  hardware,  279. 

Black,  James,  lion.,  250. 

Blair,  Henry  W.,  National  Prohibi- 
tory Amendment,  first  presented, 
United  States  House  of  Representa- 
tives, with  speech,  Dec.  27,  1870; 
introduced  in  each  Congress  since; 
reported  by  United  States  Senate 
Committee  of  Labor  and  Education; 
text  of  bill,  and  speech,  307  foil.; 
National  Educational  Bill,  presented 
since  1S81  in  United  States  Senate; 
speech  and  discussion  of  the  same, 
SOT,  foil.;  opinion,  335;  Senate  Report 
on  Woman  Suffrage  to  49th  Con- 
gress, 409,  foil.  ; original  letters  re- 
ceived from  Wm.  A.  Hammond, 
M.  D.,  69;  Edw.  W.  Lambert,  M.  D., 
113;  Alfred  Stille,  M.D.,  125;  N.  S. 
Davis,  M.  D.,  128;  Wm.  Hargreaves, 
M.D.,  136;  W.  Paine.  M.  D.,  140; 
Prof.  A.  B.  Palmer,  M.  D.,  LL.D., 
140 , foll. ; Alexander  Wilder,  M.  D., 
of  Newark,  149,  150;  A.  C.  Rem- 
baugh,  M.  D.,  Prof.  Wm.  Pepper, 
M.D.,  158;  Hon.  Louis  Shade,  200, 
201. 

Blood  and  alcohol,  25,  etc.  See  Alco- 
hol. 

Bloomingdale  Asylum,  alcohol  and 
insanity,  93. 

Blue  Mountains,  Africa,  273. 

Boeclier,  Dr.,  “Alcohol  poisons 
blood,”  84;  alcohol  as  food,  130;  al- 
cohol for  heat  and  force,  146. 

Bolton,  England,  Rechabites  and  Odd 
Fellows,  102. 

Bolton,  Sarah  K.,  W.  C.  T.  U.,  505. 

Bonny,  Charles  C.,  Africa  and  drink, 
26S,  269,  497. 

Boston,  234,  367,  494,  522;  Baptist 
Bethel,  “ Temperance  meeting  forty 
years,”  447;  “National  Philanthro- 
pist,” 427;  “Boston  Globe,”  Prof. 
Hogg,  326;  rum  to  Africa,  276;  “ Bos- 
ton Recorder,”  425;  liquor  dealers, 
225;  Carpenters’  Association,  173. 


Bouohardet,  Dr.,  alcohol  as  food,  130. 

Bouquet,  44. 

Bourbon  whisky,  per  cent,  alcohol, 
12;  197,204. 

Bourne,  “ National  expenditure  on 
alcohol,”  15. 

Bowditcli,  Dr.,  162. 

Bowdoin  College,  456. 

Bowen,  H.  C.,  celebration,  361. 

Bowman,  Dr.,  alcohol  retards  diges- 
tion, 84. 

Boyle,  alcohol  and  insurance,  93. 

Boy’s  fatal  drink  of  alcohol,  72. 

Brain  and  alcohol,  53,  67,  91,  343. 

Brainerd,  431. 

Brande,  alcohol  in  liquors,  11,  12. 

Brandy,  273;  per  cent,  alcohol,  11,  12; 
European,  per  cent,  alcohol,  12 ; Rus- 
sian, 249;  and  cholera,  Muzzey,  86. 

Brass,  R.,  negro,  268,  269. 

Brenthall,  Mrs.,  W.  C.  T.  U.,  518. 

Brewers’  Association  Case  decided  by 
United  States  Supreme  Court,  1887, 
Appendix. 

Briggs,  George  N.,  Gov.,  445. 

Briggs,  Miss,  W.  C.  T.  U.,  524. 

Bright,  John,  Hon.,  sister,  518. 

Bright’s  Disease  and  alcohol,  91. 

Bristol  merchant,  209. 

British  Association  for  Advancement 
of  Science,  36;  possessions  in  Africa, 
276;  Colonial  Temperance  Congress, 
277 ; Temperance  League,  499; 
“Medical  Journal,”  Markham,  83; 
British  and  Colonial  Temperance 
Congress  in  London,  259;  British 
rum  obliterated  Hottentots,  256. 

Briton  Life  Insurance  Company  and 
total  abstinence,  101. 

Brodie,  Benj.,  Sir,  Stimulants  use  up 
nerve-power,  84 ; testimony  on  alco- 
hol, 119. 

Brooklyn,  230,  512;  drinkeries,  Tal- 
mage,  368;  Medical  Declaration, 
122. 

Brosnan,  T.  H.,  total  abstinence  and 
mortality,  110. 

Brown,  Joseph,  senator  of  Georgia, 
331,  333,  on  Education  Bill. 

Brown,  Miss,  W.  C.  T.  U.,  524. 

Brown  stout,  per  cent,  alcohol,  12. 

Brown,  Wm.  Y.,  D.  D.,  442. 

Buchanan,  missionary,  431. 

Buckheim’s  experiments,  57. 

Buckley,  James  M.,  D.  D.,  Editor  of 
“Christian  Advocate,”  on  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church,  444;  beer 
ridiculed  as  food,  SI ; portrait,  445. 

Buddhists  and  vegetable  food,  126; 
prohibit  drink,  260. 

Buell,  Caroline  B.,  Mrs.,  corresponding 
secretary,  W7.  C.  T.  U.,  515,  516,  524; 
portrait,  521. 

Buffon,  “Discourse  on  Nature,”  on 
drink,  155. 

Bullock,  A.  G.,  life  insurance  and 
total  abstinence,  111. 

Bunker  Hill,  395:  to  Yorlitown,  193. 

Buo,  Emperor  of  China,  prohibition- 
ist, 2000  B.  C.,  264,  300. 

Bureau  of  Education,  18S1,  315. 

Bureau  of  Statistics,  drink  bill,  208; 
195,  215,  216,  221,  241. 


INDEX, 


507 


Burgess,  Wm.,  Kev.,  diagram,  “ Laud, 
Labor  and  Liquor,”  mo. 

Burgundy,  per  cent,  alcohol,  12. 

Burmah  and  Burmese,  2(i0. 

Burnett,  Mary,  Dr.,  W.  (J.  T.  U.,  516, 
521. 

Burnett,  Wm.,  Sir,  on  alcohol,  120. 

Burns,  Dawson,  Kev.,  “Vital  Statis- 
tics of  Total  Abstinence,”  100,  101. 

Burr,  Rowland,  drink  and  crime,  105. 

Burroughs,  George,  M.  D.,  Medical 
Declaration,  120. 

Burt,  Mary  T.,  Mrs.,  President  W.  C. 
T.  U.,  of  New  York,  521;  portrait, 
379. 

Bush,  George,  on  alcohol,  Medical 
Declaration,  121. 

Bush,  S.  W.,  Kev.,  461. 

Business  of  rum  traffic,  317. 

Byronic,  “ rum  and  religion,”  529. 

Cadets  of  Temperance,  199. 

Cairue,  W.  S.,  M.  P.,  277. 

Cairo,  Egypt,  temperance  meeting,  277. 

Calabar,  R.,  “rum,  not  cloth,”  270. 

Calcutta  and  drink,  201. 

Caledon,  Africa,  273. 

California,  155,  202, 212,  509 ; illiteracy, 
303. 

Call,  Senator,  on  Education  Bill,  334. 

Calvary  Branch,  temperance  society, 
365. 

Calvary,  crucifixions  continued,  398. 

Cameroons,  268. 

Campbell,  G.  W.,  Dr.,  Montreal  Med- 
ical Declaration,  121. 

Canaan,  N.  H.,  428. 

Canada,  250,  119,  518;  beer,  211;  drink 
and  crime,  165;  Good  Templars,  190; 
internal  revenue,  215;  woman  suf- 
frage, municipal,  116. 

Cape  Colony,  Africa,  276,  280,  490; 
parliament,  271;  government  com- 
mission, 272. 

Carlysle,  A.,  Dr.,  alcohol  poison  to  ani- 
mals and  plants,  152. 

Carpenter,  M.  G.,  Mrs.,  W.  C.  T.  U., 
517. 

Carpenter,  W.  B.,  M.  D.,  alcohol  on 
body,  151 ; mortality  and  life  insur- 
ance, 103;  intoxication  and  wages, 
172;  Dr.  Rembaugh,  150. 

Carse,  Matilda  B.,  W.  C.  T.  U.,  519; 
president  Woman’s  Temperance 
Publishing  Association,  Chicago, 
portrait,  328. 

Cary,  Samuel,  Gen.,  493. 

Catholic  Church  and  temperance,  472, 
173,  530. 

“ Catholic  Directory,”  472. 

“ Catholic  Temperance  Magazine,” 
481. 

Catholic  Temperance  Society,  Dover, 
N.  H.,  462. 

Catholic  Total  Abstinence  Union,  177, 
178,  483. 

Caucasian  race,  427. 

Caucus,  origin  of  political  power,  539. 

Census,  1860,  220;  census,  1870,  219, 
228;  census,  1880,  182,  218,  220,  229, 
306,  365. 

“Centennial,”  1876,  intoxicating  liq- 
uors excluded,  227. 


“ Centennial  Temperance  Confer- 
ence,” Philadelphia,  478. 

“ Centennial  Temperance  Volume,” 
Dr.  Dunn,  423,  505. 

Central  American  States,  250. 

Cetewayo,  ex-king  of  South  Africa, 
and  temperance,  272. 

Ceylon,  518;  and  drink,  231. 

Chadwick,  Dr.,  “ Essay  on  Alcohol,” 

Champagne,  per  cent,  alcohol,  12; 
European  champagne,  per  cent,  al- 
cohol, 12. 

Changes  of  medical  opinion  on  alcohol, 
117. 

Channing,  Wm.  E.,  D.D.,  157,  461. 

Chapin,  E.  PL,  D.  ii.,  153. 

Chapin,  Sallie  F.,  superintendent  of 
Southern  work  of  W.  C.  T.  U.,  516, 
520;  portrait,  320. 

Charleston,  S.  C.,  520. 

“ Chase’s  Tavern,”  Baltimore,  135. 

Chatsworth  railroad  disaster,  203. 

Chautauqua  Lake,  510. 

Chautauqua  Literary  and  Scientific 
Circle  and  temperance,  49S. 

Clieadle  and  Monsall  Infirmary,  total 
abstinence  and  mortality,  102. 

Clieever,  George  B.,  Kev.,  “ Dea. 
Giles,”  456. 

Chemists  and  alcohol,  4,  5, 17. 

Chesterfield,  Lord,  on  rum  traffic,  422. 

Chicago,  173,  367,  497,  501,  512,  515,  519. 

Children  and  temperance,  481. 

Children  dead  from  alcohol,  72. 

Children  great  sufferers  from  rum 
traffic,  397. 

Children,  loss  of,  481. 

China,  Chinese;  190,  491,  516. 

China  perhaps  had  distillation  before 
the  12th  century,  10;  emperor  a 
prohibitionist,  2207  B.  C.,  2tH,  360; 
England  and  opium,  263;  English 
rum  and  China,  263;  Chinese  labor, 
322;  healing  art,  118. 

Chloroform  not  a food,  23. 

Cholera  and  alcohol,  86;  “cholera 
sold  here,”  86. 

Christendom,  318,  452. 

Christian  (in  India)  “to  eat  pork  and 
drink  liquor,”  260;  Christian  na- 
tions, are  there  any?  Christian  pop- 
ulation of  the  world,  472;  Christians 
selling  rum  to  heathen  nations,  268; 
Christians  denounced  by  Arabic 
teachers,  277. 

“ Christian  Advocate,”  164;  Buckley, 
81. 

“ Christian  Church  ” and  temperance, 
quadrennial  convention,  1882,  463. 

Christianity,  361;  “crimes  in  thy 
name,”  280;  “Christianity  and 
Christian  nations.”  481 ; “ Christian- 
ity and  drinking,”  Africa,  267  ; Chris- 
tianity and  Sandwich  Islands,  256. 

Church,  an  educator,  299;  churches 
enlightened,  431. 

Church  of  England  temperance  soci- 
ety, 263,  361. 

“Church  of  God”  and  temperance, 
446. 

Cider,  Muzzey,  86;  per  cent,  alcohol, 
12;  European,  per  cent,  alcohol,  12. 


INDEX 


56b 


Cincinnati,  307,  508,  509;  platform  of 
Democrats,  337. 

Citizen’s  Law  and  Order  League,  480, 
490. 

“Civilized  nations  the  drunken  na- 
tions,” 250. 

Clapp,  Eugene,  Hon.,  head  of  Sons  of 
Temperance,  United  States,  494; 
portrait,  425. 

Claret,  per  cent,  alcohol,  12 ; Euro- 
pean, ditto,  12. 

Clark,  A.,  M.  D.,  Medical  Declara- 
tion, 123. 

Clark,  N.  G.,  D.  D.,204. 

Clark,  Sir  James,  on  alcohol,  119. 

Clarke,  Dr.,  in  South  Africa,  277. 

Claudius,  Emperor,  suppressed  drink 
houses,  360. 

Cleary,  Father,  478. 

Cleveland,  Ohio,  230,  50 ',  511 ; W.  C. 
T.  U.,  512. 

Clubb,  Rev.  Henry  S.,  459. 

Clyde,  509. 

Cochrane,  J.  S.,  Rev.,  249. 

Coffee-houses,  Rembaugh,  150. 

Coleman,  Julia,  Miss,  superintendent 
literature  of  W.  C.  T.  U.,  524;  por- 
trait, 348. 

Collier,  ffm.,  first  temperance  editor, 
446. 

Collins,  N.  Y„  281. 

Cologne  spirits,  197. 

Colorado,  155,  202,  212 ; illiteracy,  308 ; 
woman  suffrage,  414;  and  schools, 
415. 

Colored  people,  515. 

Colquitt,  Alfred  H.,  Hon.,  on  Educa- 
tion Bill,  331 ; portrait,  36. 

Columbia  College  Medical  School,  90. 

“ Common  Sense  ” in  Revolution,  423. 

Conaty,  Thomas  J.,  Rev.,  483. 

Conference,  W.  C.  T.  U.,  515. 

Congo  Free  State,  266,  282,  2S3;  Con- 
go valley,  265,  282. 

Congregational  Church,  529;  and  tem- 
perance, 454;  first  organized  society, 
first  series  of  sermons,  456. 

Congress,  United  States  and  Congo, 
282. 

Congressional  Temperance  Society, 
445. 

Connecticut,  155,  202,  212,  308;  Con- 
necticut crimes,  226. 

“ Connecticut  General  Life  Insur- 
ance,” total  abstinence  and  mortal- 
ity, 110. 

“ Connecticut  Mutual  Life  Insur- 
ance,” total  abstinence  and  mortal- 
ity, 110. 

“ Conscience  through  pocket  ” of  Eng- 
lishman, 280. 

Constitution  of  United  States,  391, 
434. 

Constitutional  Prohibitory  Amend- 
ment, 403. 

Consumer’s  right  questioned,  345. 

“ Contemporary  Review,”  280. 

Cook,  Joseph,  suffrage  on  intemper- 
ance, 363;  portrait,  145. 

Coolies  and  drink,  202. 

Cooper,  Sir  Astley,  “ ardent  spirits, 
evil  spirits,”  71;  denounced  beer- 
drinking, 112. 


Cooper,  Bransby,  on  alcohol,  119. 

Copeland,  Dr.,  on  alcohol,  120. 

Corporations,  "W.  C.  T.  U.,  515. 

Costelloe,  Mary  Sv.,  W.  C.  T.  U.v 
518. 

Cotton,  C.  B.,  labor  on  liquor  traffic,. 
215. 

Courten,  alcohol  as  poison,  137. 

Covenanters,  468. 

Cowden,  Mrs.,  Rev.,  'W.  C.  T.  U.,  506. 

Cowherd,  Wm.,  Rev.,  459. 

Crime  and  alcohol,  225,476;  and  drink,. 
103,  104, 105 ; Hale  and  other  judges, 
108,  etc.;  drink  and  pauperism,  168; 
and  drunkenness,  409;  and  vices,. 
346. 

“ Crisis  presses  on  us,”  396. 

Crocodile  nature,  270. 

Crosby,  Alpheus,  of  Manchester,  N. 
H.,  testimony  labor  and  drink,  172, 
177,  192. 

Crowther,  Bishop,  270. 

Crusade  in  Basoutoland,  273. 

Crusade,  woman’s  work,  398,  foil. 

Crusader,  396. 

Cullom,  Senator,  Education  Bill,  333- 

Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  and 
temperance,  429. 

Cushman,  Bessie  W.,  M.  D.,  W.  C.  T- 
U.,  516. 

Cuyler,  Theodore  L.,  D.  D.,  487 ; “ al- 
cohol demands  more  and  more,”  151- 

Cyprus,  wine,  249. 

Czar,  stops  physician’s  salary,  118; 
“ represents  his  people,”  401. 

Da  Costa,  Dr.,  457. 

Dakota,  202;  liquor  traffic,  213;  illit- 
eracy, 308. 

Dalton,  Professor,  “ alcohol  poison,”- 
74. 

Dante’s  Inferno,  367. 

Dark  Continent,  265,  276. 

• Dartmouth  College,  456;  Medical  Col- 
lege, 427. 

Davis,  N.  S.,  M. D.,  Chicago,  “Fa- 
ther of  American  Medical  Asso- 
ciation,” 127;  83,  141,  159,  424,  428; 
diseases  of  alcohol,  91;  paper  on- 
alcohol,  129;  letter  to  Blair,  129; 
portrait,  90. 

Davis,  Noah,  Judge,  crime  and  drink, 
164. 

Day,  President,  Yale  College,  456. 

“ Dea.  Giles’  Distillery,”  Cheever,  456- 

Dead  Sea,  291. 

Declaration  of  Lidependence,  236,  246. 

Dedlira  Dlioon,  India,  262. 

Deer  Island,  Mass.,  162,  226. 

Delafield,  Dr.  Edward,  Medical  Dec- 
laration, 123. 

Delano,  Commissioner,  220. 

Delaware,  155,  202  ; illiteracy,  308. 

J Delirium  tremens,  54,  370;  and  Af- 
rican chief,  274;  in  St.  Petersburg- 
Hospital,  93. 

j Democracy,  447 ; Cincinnati  platform, . 
o3 1 . 

i Denmark,  490. 

Des  Moines,  license  experiment,  154. 

Devil,  Shakspeare,  343. 

Dewey,  Charles,  total  abstinence  and. 
life  insurance.  111. 


INDEX. 


569 


Dexter,  Hon.  Samuel,  “circular,” 
1S14. 

Diagrams,  colored,  saloon  map  of 
New  York,  Battery  to  Central  Bark: 
colored  (Dr.  Thomas  Sewall);  stom- 
ach in  various  stages  under  use  of 
alcohol,  81 ; cancerous  stomach,  54 ; 
liver  in  various  stages  of  use  of 
alcohol,  72;  kidneys  in  stages  of 
alcoholic  use,  03:  cost  of  drink 
and  living  in  United  States,  232; 
life-rates  of  brewers  compared  with 
other  crafts,  105;  longevity  of  Sons 
of  Temperance  compared  with  non- 
abstaining  organizations,  105 ; wages 
and  expenditure  for  drink,  237. 

Dickinson,  Dr.  W.,  “ morbid  effects 
of  alcohol,”  85. 

Digestive  system  and  alcohol,  49,  etc. 

Dingley,  Governor,  of  Maine  and  pro- 
hibition, 370. 

Dipsomania,  53. 

“ Disciples  of  Christ  ” and  temper- 
ance, 452. 

“ Discourse  on  Nature,”  Buffon,  155. 

Diseases  from  alcohol  enumerated,  92. 

Distillation  discovered  12th  century, 
2;  by  Albucassis,  10;  he  secreted, 
19;  process,  10;  increases  alcohol, 
10 ; 40  per  cent.,  11. 

Distilled  liquors  enumerated,  “ brandy, 
whisky,  rum,  and  gin,”  11;  only  a 
few  centuries,  19,  204,  426,  etc. ; iu 
United  States,  198;  table,  1863-1885, 
197. 

Distilleries  in  1792,  424;  in  United 
States,  215,  234;  stopped,  435. 

District  of  Columbia,  202,  304,  80S,  316, 
373,  387,  503,  517,  532. 

Dix,  Governor,  message,  drink  and 
crime.  164. 

Dodge,  Hon.  W.  E.,  457,  486,  489. 

Dog,  experiment  with  alcohol,  Percy, 
71,  78;  Anstie,  21,  67  (see  before). 

Dolph,  Senator,  Education  Bill,  334. 

Dorchester,  Daniel,  D.D.,  “Liquor 
Problem,”  12,  423,  426,  etc. ; portrait , 
45. 

Dow,  Hon.  Neal,  Father  of  Maine 
Law,  436,  455,  403 ; portrait , 437. 

Draper,  Dr.  John  C.,  11,  12. 

Drink,  statistics,  195 ; and  products, 
United  States,  232;  bill,  United 
States,  179;  “New  York  Grocer,” 
208 ; and  crime,  163,  4,  5,  8,  9,  282, 
469;  labor,  175;  uses  up  10  per  cent, 
of  labor,  175;  and  wages,  175;  and 
poverty,  169. 

Drinking,  why  Fall  River  people 
drink?  191;  saloons  in  United 
States,  155 ; habits  of  India,  Grey- 
son,  259. 

Drunkard  arraigned,  Powderly,  184 ; 
in  United  States,  223;  “a  drunken 
people  can  not  be  a free  people,” 
Cook,  363. 

Drunkenness  and  crime,  282,  469. 

Dublin  Lunatic  Asylum  and  alcohol, 

Dunedin,  New  Zealand,  2S2. 

Dunglison,  Dr.,  Medical  Lexicon  de- 
fines alcohol,  4;  poison,  food,  medi- 
cine, 63,  64. 


Dunn,  Dr.,  “Centennial  Temperance 
Volume,”  423. 

Duplain,  vinous  fermentation,  9. 

Duprt!,  Dr.,  doubts  on  alcohol,  21; 
alcohol,  non-elimination,  59. 

Duroy,  Dr.,  investigations,  35,  56,  59, 
61 ; alcohol  never  food,  20. 

Dutch  influence  for  rum  in  Africa, 
273;  government  and  South  Africa, 
27 ; Dutch  government  asked  by 
heathen  to  abandon  rum  traffic,  273. 

Dutch  Reformed  Church  in  Africa,. 
277. 

Dyer,  Oliver,  227. 

East  African  Coast,  280. 

Eastern  Churches,  population,  472. 

Eaton,  Hon.  John,  307. 

“Eat  pork,  drink  liquor  — a Chris- 
tian,” India,  260. 

Ebing,  Dr.  Croft,  alcohol  and  hered- 
ity, 154. 

Economy,  181. 

Eddy,  Richard,  D.  D.,  “ Alcohol  in 
History,”  245,  246,  292,  293,  360,  423, 
453. 

Edmunds,  George  F.,  313,  314,  315; 
Education  Bill,  331. 

Edmunds,  James,  M.  D.,  alcohol  and 
food,  78,  137;  and  Dr.  Rembaugh, 
150 ; beer  drinking,  80 ; total  absti- 
nence and  mortality,  139. 

Education  and  rescue,  296 ; and  tem- 
perance, 22S;  IV.  C.  T.  U.,  517;  not 
complete  without  moral  element, 
298;  and  labor,  172;  in  United 
States,  1S70,  228 ; Education  Bill,  H. 
W.  Blair  and  others,  305,  etc. 

Edwards,  Justin,  D.  D.,  446  , 456; 
Massachusetts  Society  for  the  Pro- 
motion of  Temperance,  426. 

“ Effects  of  ardent  spirits,”  Dr.  Rush,. 
423. 

Egerton,  'William,  451. 

Egypt,  490;  gods,  invention  of  wine, 
2;  Mohammedanism,  266;  demoral- 
ized by  England,  277. 

Elam,  Dr.,  hereditary  passions,  96. 

Elderberry  wine,  per  cent,  alcohol,  12. 

Eliot,  Dr.  Ellsworth,  Medical  Declara- 
tion, 123. 

Elliot,  William  G.,  D.D.,  461,  478. 

Ellison,  Rev.  Canon,  263. 

Emir  of  Nupe',  271. 

Emperor  Claudius  shut  drinking- 
houses,  360;  Emperor  of  China  and 
prohibition,  2000  B.C. 

Emperor  life  insurance  and  total  ab- 
stinence, secretary's  report,  101. 

“ Empiricism  to  prescribe  unknown 
alcoholic  beverages,”  Hargreaves, 
146. 

England,  225,  451 ; physicians  on  alco- 
hol, 1839,  119;  Medical  Declaration, 
123;  register-general,  alcohol  and 
mortality,  105 ; total  abstinence  and 
mortality,  Carpenter,  103;  asylum 
and  alcohol,  92;  drink,  239;  cholera 
statistics,  87 ; Good  Templars,  490 
etc. ; Chinese  and  opium,  263. 

English,  Parliament,  373;  law,  383; 
physicians  and  alcohol,  1839,  119; 
Medical  Declaration,  123;  asylum 


570 


INDEX. 


English,  continued. 
and  alcohol,  92;  insurance  and 
provident  institutions  and  alcohol, 
99;  English  queen  not  to  allow 
harasa,  271 ; English  and  drink  in 
Burmah,  2(il;  English  governor  and 
South  Africa,  271 ; English  respon- 
sible for  rum  traffic,  260;  in  Africa, 
267;  in  China,  263;  in  India,  262, 
263;  in  Madagascar,  279 ; denounced 
in  Arabic  for  the  rum  traffic,  277, 
422;  English  women  in  Fall  River, 
191 ; non-conformists  and  Madagas- 
car, 278. 

“ Enquiry  into  ardent  spirits,”  Dr. 
Rush,  292. 

“ Essay  on  Alcohol,”  Chadwick,  71. 

Europe,  250,  255,  257,  278,  444,  479,  490. 

Europeans,  alcoholic  beverages,  12; 
distilleries  in  South  Africa,  275 ; de- 
nounced, 277. 

“Evangelical  Association”  and  tem- 
perance, 467. 

Evangelistic  department  W.  C.  T.  U., 
514,  518. 

Evarts,  Jeremiah,  455. 

Evarts,  William,  Senator,  on  Educa- 
tion Bill,  331,  456. 

Experience,  the  Great  Reformer,  434. 

Experiments  on  animals,  71,78;  An- 
stie,  21,  67,  71,  152,  etc. ; of  wine  on 
heart,  Parkes,  Wallowicz,  2S,  29. 

“ Experiments  and  Observations  on 
Digestion,”  etc.,  Dr.  William  Beau- 
mont, 88. 

Eye  and  alcohol,  52. 

Eyre,  Sir  J.,  on  alcohol,  119. 

EABrus,  524. 

Fairbanks,  Hon.  A.  G.,  letter,  drink 
and  crime,  167. 

Fairbanks  scales,  296. 

Fairs,  W.  C.  T.  U.,  515. 

Falck,  Dr.,  alcohol  as  poison,  137. 

Fall  River,  labor  and  drink,  1S9;  Eng- 
lish women,  191. 

Farre,  A.,  Dr.,  on  alcohol.  120. 

“ Father  of  American  Medical  Asso- 
ciation,” Davis,  X.  S.,  128. 

Faxon  Henry,  of  Quincy,  461 ; por- 
trait, 181. 

“Federal  Herald,”  1789. 

Fermentation,  produces  alcohol,  8; 
vinous,  at  temperature  70°,  S;  fer- 
mented liquors,  from  fruits  and  veg- 
etables, 9;  from  Indian  corn  and  po- 
tatoes, 11 ; only  fermented  liquors  till 
12th  century,  10;  distinguished  from 
distilled  or  ardent  spirits,  11;  do  not 
cure  drinking  of  ardent  spirits,  248. 

“ Figures  of  Hell,”  Elizabeth  Thomp- 
son, 219. 

Fiji,  28. 

Finch,  John  B.,  Hon.,  late  head  of 
Good  Templars,  portrait,  357. 

First  Medical  Declaration.  Sir  Benja- 
min Brodie  and  seventy-five  others, 
119. 

Fisher,  G.  J.,  Dr.,  Medical  Declara- 
tion, 124. 

Fishes  paralyzed  by  alcohol,  71. 

Fiske,  Prof.  John,  “narcotic  thirst,” 
153. 


“ Five  thousand  one  hundred  and  ten 
goblets  a year,”  moderation,  292. 

Flood,  Theodore  L.,  D.D.,  editor  of 
“ Chautauquan,”  portrait,  499. 

Florida,  155,  212;  illiteracy,  308. 

Flower,  Mrs.,  W.  C.  T.  U.,  515. 

Fontaine,  alcohol  as  poison,  37 ; alco- 
hol kills  leeches,  frogs,  turtles  and 
fishes,  71. 

Food,  defined;  Webster,  Worcester, 
Dunglison,  63;  Hargreaves,  137 ; de- 
stroyed, alcohol  produced,  by  fer- 
mentation, 9;  nitrogenous  and  non- 
nitrogenous,  6,  7,  8;  and  liquors, 
233 ; see  Alcohol  as  Food. 

Forbes,  John,  Sir,  on  alcohol,  120. 

“ Foresters  ” and  mortality,  106. 

“Forum,”  Greeley  on  Arctic  use  of 
alcohol,  83. 

Foster,  J.  Ellen,  Mrs.,  President  of 
W.  C.  T.  U.,  Iowa,  524;  portrait, 
389. 

“Foundations  of  death,”  Gustafson, 
Alexander,  151. 

Fourcroy,  vinous  fermentation,  9. 

Fourth  of  July,  1776,  421. 

Fox,  destroyed  by  alcohol,  152. 

France,  185;  wine,  249;  liquors,  250; 
drink,  243;  alcoholism,  11,  245;  con- 
sumption of  liquors,  251 ; liquors 
and  treaties,  392;  rum  to  Africa,  264, 
269,  276;  asylums  and  alcohol,  93. 

Franchise,  W.  C.  T.  U..  515. 

Frank,  Dr.,  “ distillation  a fatal  gift,” 
104. 

Franklin,  Beniamin,  and  temperance, 
391,  424. 

Franklin,  John,  Sir,  Arctic  use  of  al- 
cohol, S2. 

Frederick  V.,  Count  Palatine.  Moder- 
ation Temperance  Society,  292. 

Free  Baptist  Church  and  temperance, 
“ Zouaves  of  Heaven,”  462. 

Free  State  of  Congo,  266,  269,  271. 

Freethinkers  and  schools,  301. 

French  asylums  and  alcohol,  93. 

“ French  Magazine  ” on  alcohol,  246. 

Friendly  J.,  Mrs.,  W.  C.  T.  U.,  515. 

“ Friends,  Society  of,”  and  temper- 
ance, 441,  451. 

Frog  and  alcohol,  71. 

Fruit  wines,  204. 

Fundamental  Propositions,  249,  foil. 

Funk  I.  II.,  editor  of  “ Voice,”  por- 
trait, 99. 

Fusel  oil,  11. 

Gambkell,  Roderick  Dhu,  “ The 
Mississippi  Martyr,”  portrait,  127. 

Ganges,  161. 

Gannett,  Ezra,  D.D.,  461. 

Garland,  Senator,  on  Education  Bill, 
332. 

Garrison,  William  L.,  446. 

Gellius,  heredity  and  alcohol,  155. 

Geneva  spirit,  per  cent,  alcohol,  12. 

George,  Senator,  on  Education  Bill, 
331  333. 

Georgia,  155,  202,  212,  470,  520;  illit- 
eracy, SOS ; North  Conference,  1882, 
469. 

German  Moderation  Societies,  1517, 
291. 


INDEX 


571 


German  Reformed  Church  and  tem- 
perance, 458. 

Germans  at  Berlin  Conference  and 
rum  traffic,  271. 

■Germany,  250,  490,  516;  intellectual- 
ity, 450;  religious  feeling,  450; 
wine,  249;  drink,  247;  climate  and 
beer,  81 ; consequences  of  liquor, 
251 ; beer  and  spirits,  247 ; carries 
drink,  264 ; responsibility  for  African 
drinking,  267  , 269;  rum  for  Africa, 
276. 

Giant  Despair,  538;  partnership,  205. 

Gibbons,  Cardinal,  473,  475 ; portrait, 
477. 

Gibson,  Alan  G.  S.,  Rev.,  missionary 
in  South  Africa,  272. 

Gibson,  Senator,  on  Education  Bill, 
333. 

Gifford,  O.  P.,  D.  D.,  445,  448. 

Gillette,  Walter  R.,  Dr.,  total  absti- 
nence and  mortality,  110;  Medical 
Declaration,  123. 

<3in,  11,  197,  204,  269;  Holland,  per 
cent,  alcohol,  12  ; London,  per  cent, 
alcohol,  12;  gin  versus  missions, 
269 ; gin  trade  and  Christianity,  2S0. 

Glasgow,  cloth,  270;  medical  institu- 
tions, 86. 

Gold  Coast,  276,  490. 

Golden  Rule,  436. 

Goldie.  Hugh,  Rev.,  African  mission- 
ary, 269. 

Gomorrah,  391. 

Good  Templars,  49,  281,  282,  465,  486, 
489,  491. 

Gordon,  Anna,  missionary  associate  of 
Miss  Willard,  W.  C.  T.  U.,  522; 
portrait,  190. 

Gordon,  Dr.,  alcohol  a poison,  not 
food,  78. 

Gordon,  Mrs.  A.  J.,  W.  C.  T.  U.,  524. 

Gough,  John  B.,  456. 

Gough,  the  heathen,  274. 

Graham,  Robert,  3165 ; “New  York 
City  and  Masters,”  364. 

Grain  used  up,  251;  used  in  United 
States,  215. 

Grant,  U.  S.,  President,  5000  post- 
mistresses, 415. 

Grapes  used  up,  251. 

Graphiphone,  217. 

Gray,  Charlotte  A.,  W.  C.  T.  U.,  518. 

Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  281 ; con- 
sumption of  liquor,  251;  rum  bill, 
480 ; rum  to  Africa,  276 ; Good 
Templars,  466;  Woman’s  Suffrage, 
municipal,  416  (see  also  England). 

Greece,  wine,  249. 

Greeks  forbade  wine  to  women,  96. 

Greeley,  General,  Arctic  use  of  alco- 
hol, 83. 

Green,  F.  M.,  452. 

Greene,  Colonel,  life  insurance  and 
total  abstinence,  109. 

Greenland,  286. 

Gregson,  E.,  Mrs.,  W.  C.  T.  U.,  518. 

Gregson,  J.  Gilson,  Rev.,  India  liquor, 
259;  “ Anglican  intoxicants  worse 
than  heathen  customs,”  259. 

Griffin,  Albert,  Hon.,  Chairman  Anti- 
Saloon  Republican  National  Com- 
mittee, 417  ; portrait,  136. 


Grindrod,  Dr.,  on  London  beer-drinker, 

80. 

Gross,  G.  AY.,  Rev.,  467. 

Gustafson,  Alexander,  “ Foundations 
of  Death,”  151. 

Guy,  Professor,  on  alcohol,  120. 

Guy’s  Hospital,  London,  and  Sir 
Astley  Cooper,  112. 

Haddock,  George  C.,  Rev.,  “The 
Iowa  Martyr,”  portrait,  118. 

Hale,  Edward  E.,  D.  D.,  461. 

Hale,  Matthew,  Sir,  drink  and  crime, 
163. 

Hall,  L.  M.,  drink  and  crime,  inebri- 
ate women,  165. 

Hall,  Marshall,  Dr.,  on  alcohol,  119. 

Hall,  AVilliam  B.,  M.  D.,  Medical 
Declaration,  123. 

Hamilton,  Archdeacon,  269. 

Hamilton,  J.  Taylor,  Rev.,  459. 

Hammond,  W.  A.,  Dr.,  experiments 
of  alcohol  on  new  system,  67;  alco- 
hol, 132;  alcohol  as  poison  to  ani- 
mals, 137 ; as  decreasing  waste,  130; 
decreasing  heat,  83;  medical  use, 
69;  better  abolished,  69;  New  York 
lecture,  61 ; letter  to  Senator  Blair, 
69. 

Hampton  A\Tade,  331;  on  Education 
Bill,  334. 

Hardy,  bonus  in  temperance  section 
of  life  insurance  company,  104. 

Hargreaves,  William,  M.  D.,  “ Alcohol 
and  Science,”  5,  59,  89,  93,  etc.; 
“Alcohol  and  Man,”  “two  vast 
arsenals,”  136;  defines  alcohol,  5; 
defines  foods,  6 ; nitrogenous  ali- 
ments, 7;  vinous  fermentation,  9; 
elimination  of  alcohol,  5ft;  alco- 
hol a poison,  not  a food,  74 ; dis- 
cussion of  one  hundred  pages  that 
alcohol  is  not  food,  77 ; alcohol 
retards  digestion,  84;  total  absti- 
nence, 87 ; cites  Beaumont  on  St. 
Martin,  89;  alcohol  and  insanity, 
92,  93,  summary;  “half  of  sickness 
and  death  by  alcohol,”  103;  statistics 
of  occupation  and  alcohol  in  Eng- 
land, 104;  letter  to  H.  AV.  Blair, 
136;  Dr.  Rembaugli,  150;  drink  and 
crime,  165;  drink  bill  of  United 
States,  179;  expense  of  living,  182; 
cost  of  liquor  traffic,  215;  tables,  216, 
220,  221,  223,  228 ; statement  of  drink 
bill,  229;  diagram,  227;  portrait,  9. 

Harris,  C.  R.,  Rev.,  466. 

Harris,  Elisha,  M.  D.,  162;  Medical 
Declaration,  123;  crime,  163. 

Harrison.  Senator,  on  National  Edu- 
cation Bill,  335. 

Hartford  Life  and  Annuity  Life  In- 
surance Company,  total  abstinenco 
and  life  insurance,  111. 

Hashish  and  opium  habits,  18. 

Hassels  on  beer,  129. 

Hastings,  S.  D.,  Hon.,  491. 

Hawaiian  Islands,  518. 

Haygood,  A.  D.,  Dr.,  469. 

Health  and  heredity,  016. 

Heart  and  alcohol,  52,  66. 

Heat,  only  surface  heat  produced  by 
alcohol,  43. 


572 


INDEX. 


Hendrickson,  W.  C.,  Rev.,  458. 

Heredity  and  alcohol,  516;  idiocy, 
Howe,  96;  and  drunkenness,  54; 
alcohol  and  insanity,  95;  see  also 
Alcohol  and  Heredity. 

Herman,  Dr.,  brandy  shops  in  St. 
Petersburg,  93. 

Herod  of  massacre,  license,  3C8. 

Hesse,  Landgraves,  292. 

Hewett,  Rev.  Dr.,  456. 

Hewitt,  William,  249. 

Higginbottom,  John,  M.  D.,  “alcohol 
neither  food  nor  physic,”  140. 

High  license,  367,  etc! 

Hill,  Calvin,  Rev.,  total  abstinence, 
456. 

Hillsboro  County,  N.  H.,  1G7. 

Hillsboro,  Ohio,  505. 

Hindoo  and  drink,  259;  despises  liq- 
uor, 261. 

Hindostan,  258. 

Hippocrates,  303. 

Hitchcock,  Dr.,  224. 

Hitchcock,  President,  of  Amherst 
College,  293,  456. 

Hoar,  George  F.,  Senator  of  Massa- 
chusetts, on  National  Education 
Bill,  331. 

Hoffman,  Clara,  Mrs.,  portrait,  528. 

Hofmeyer,  N.  J.,  Prof.,  277. 

Hogg,  Alexander,  Prof.,  on  American 
illiteracy,  326. 

Holland,  490,  516;  Holland  gin,  per 
cent,  alcohol,  12;  dykes,  382;  Re- 
formed Dutch  and  temperance,  448. 

Holland,  Henry,  Sir,  on  alcohol,  120. 

Hoi}'  Land,  396. 

Home  the  primary  field,  298;  and  alco- 
hol, 298;  destroyed  by  rum,  398; 
temperance  a war  for  home,  398. 

Home  Life  Insurance  Company,  total 
abstinence  and  mortality,  110,  112. 

“Homiletic  Review,” total  abstinence 
and  sickness  in  England,  106. 

Hood,  Ellen,  W.  C.  T.  U.,  517. 

Hood,  J.  W.,  Rev.,  465. 

Horner,  Professor,  stomach  and  alco- 
hol, 90. 

Hospital  built  by  rum,  281. 

Hotel  bar-room,  368. 

Hottentots  and  rum,  271;  obliterated 
by  British  rum,  256. 

House  of  Commons,  277,  etc. 

House  of  Representatives,  179,  etc. 

Howard,  p.  5,  liquor  cases,  Reports  of 
the  United  States  Supreme  Court, 
434. 

Howard,  Robert,  189. 

Howe,  Dr.,  alcohol  and  idiocy,  hered- 
ity, 96. 

Hoyle,  William,  of  London,  tables, 

241,  foil. ; liquor  bill  of  England, 

242. 

Hudson,  Erasmus  D.,  M.  D.,  Medical 
Declaration,  123. 

Hudson,  Erasmus  D.,  Jr.,  M.  D.,  Med- 
ical Declaration,  123. 

Hudson  River,  481. 

Huey,  Samuel  C.,  total  abstinence  and 
life  insurance,  111. 

“Human  Bodv,”  Prof.  H.  N.  Martin, 
143. 

“ Human  Suffrage,”  400. 


Humphrey,  Heman,  President,  Am- 
herst College,  Sermon  Panoplist 
Articles,  455. 

Hunt,  E.  M.,  Dr.,  “ alcohol  in  thera- 
peutics as  food  and  medicine,”  122. 

Hunt,  Mary  H.,  Mrs.,  temperance 
education,  305,  517 ; portrait,  303. 

Iceland,  490. 

Idaho,  202,  213;  illiteracy,  308. 

Idiocy  and  alcohol,  “Half  of  idiots 
children  of  intemperates,”  Howe, 
96;  Hitchcock,  224. 

Illinois,  155,  202,  212,  222;  illiteracy,. 
30S,  492,  509. 

Illiteracy  in  United  States,  305,  306;. 
tables,  308. 

Impure  literature,  W.  C.  T.  U.,  515. 

“ Inalienable  rights,”  340. 

Independence  Hall,  Philadelphia,  421. 

India,  cholera  statistics,  87;  Catholic 
and  Protestant  missions,  258;  drink, 
263;  under  British  liquor,  a “ Garden 
of  Death,”  263;  “Good  done  by 
Empress  of  India  worse  than  undone 
by  English  liquor,”  261 ; route  to, 
490;  2G5. 

Indian  Ocean,  278. 

Indiana,  202,  212,  308,  509. 

Indians  and  alcoiiol,  71 ; Indian  tribes, 
378. 

Inferno  of  Dante,  367. 

Ingham,  Mary  A.,  W.  C.  T.  U.,  512. 

Insanity  and  alcohol,  “ One-half  the 
insanity  of  the  world,”  92,  224 ; also 
see  Alcohol  and  Insanity. 

“ Insurance  Guide  of  England,”  on 
total  abstinence  and  mortality,  104. 

Intemperance  increasing,  1823,  425 ; 
among  women,  397. 

Internal  revenue,  197,  220,  366 ; re- 
ports, 200;  report,  1882,  234. 

“ International  African  Trading  Asso- 
ciation,” 266. 

International  Congress  and  alcohol, 
149. 

International  Medical  Declaration  on 
alcohol.  Philadelphia,  1876,  122. 

International  prohibition,  2S2. 

Intoxicating  liquors  excluded  from 
Centennial  grounds,  227. 

Iowa,  155,  202,  212;  illiteracy,  308; 
woman  office,  woman  suffrage,  415, 
509. 

Ireland,  281;  drink,  239;  “ Good  Tem- 
plars,” 490. 

Ireland,  John,  Bishop,  478;  speeches, 
479;  “ Father  Mathew  of  his  time,” 
473. 

Irishmen  and  alcohol,  480. 

“ Irish  Temperance  League,”  499. 

Irvine,  James,  267,  208. 

Italy,  wines,  245 ; and  wine,  249. 

Jackson,  Senator,  on  National  Edu- 
cation Bill,  334. 

Jacobi,  alcohol  as  poison,  137. 

Jago,  John  W.,  282. 

Jameson,  Dr.,  alcohol  and  cholera,  86. 

“Janus’  Temple  of  Intemperance  al- 
ways open,”  223. 

Janvrin,  J.  E.,  Dr.,  Medical  Declara- 
tion, 123. 


INDEX. 


573 


Japan  and  drink  264;  sake,  the  drink, 
264;  Emperor  of  .Japan,  516. 

Jew  and  public  schools,  301. 

Jewel],  Benj.  It.,  secretary  Massachu- 
setts Temperance  Society,  portrait, 
172. 

Jewell,  Charles,  M.  D.,  456. 

Johnson,  Andrew,  President,  adminis- 
tration, 218. 

Johnson,  James,  Rev.,  277. 

Johnson,  John  Herrick,  Rev.  Dr., 
“ amendment,”  442. 

Jonas,  Senator  on  National  Education 
Bill,  333. 

Jones,  Absalom,  Rev.,  466. 

Jones,  Bence,  alcohol  in  liquors,  11, 

12. 

Jones,  S.  T.,  D.  D.,  466. 

Jones,  Senator,  on  National  Educa- 
tion Bill,  334. 

“Journal  de  la  Statistique,”  244. 

“Journal  Statistical  Society,”  249. 

“ Journal  United  Labor,”  183. 

Juggernaut,  license,  368. 

Juvenile  work,  W.  C.  T.  U.,  514. 

Kama,  Chief,  South  Africa,  272. 

Kane,  Elisha  K.,  use  of  alcohol  in 
Arctic  region,  82. 

Kansas,  155,  202,  212;  illiteracy,  308; 
woman  suffrage,  school,  414,  415, 509 ; 
woman  suffrage  discussion,  417; 
Griffin’s  speech,  418. 

Kansas  Historical  Society,  419. 

Kasson,  John  A.,  Hon.,  271. 

Kearsey,  Stephen  H.,  India  and  Bur- 
mah,  260. 

Kennedy,  Superintendent,  221. 

Kentucky,  202,  212;  illiteracy,  308; 
woman  suffrage,  school,  415. 

Keshub  Chunder  Sen,  denounced 
drink,  259. 

Kidneys  and  alcohol,  51 ; Bright’s 

1 licpoco  (11 

Kimball,  ’ Lucia  E.  F.,  W.  C.  T.  U., 
517. 

Kindergarten,  517. 

King  Alcohol,  539. 

Kittredge,  Jonathan,  “Address  on 
effects  of  ardent  spirits  ” at  Lyme, 
N.  H.,  1827,  428,  429,  430,  431. 

Klien,  L.  A.,  Dr.,  alcohol  at  siege  of 
Paris,  “did  not  warm,  but  chill,” 
152. 

Knapp,  B.  F.,  Rev.,  404. 

Knapp,  Jacob,  Washingtonian  move- 
ment due  to  his  address,  435,  446. 

Knights  of  Labor,  Powderly,  grand 
defence  of  exclusion  of  liquor  deal- 
ers, 183;  a great  movement  for  hu- 
manity, Powderly,  185,  484. 

Knox,  N.  H.,  Mrs.,  president  W.  C.  T. 
U.  of  New  Hampshire,  524;  por- 
trait, 229. 

Labaree,  Rev.,  missionary  in  Persia, 
250. 

Labor  and  capital,  172,  209;  distribu- 
tion, 192;  drink,  169,  170,  175;  edu- 
cation, 172;  ameliorated  by  prohibi- 
tion, 180;  movement,  McNeill,  181; 
“ labor  and  temperance  one  move- 
ment,” 193. 


La  Fetra,  Sarah  D.,  Mrs.,  President 
W.  C.  T.  U.  District  Columbia, 
portrait,  367. 

Laliemand,  1860,  alcohol  never  food, 
20;  investigations  on  alcohol,  35,  56, 
59,  61,  132;  alcohol  lessens  muscular 
force,  84;  his  investigations  and 
others  a landmark,  57. 

Lamar,  L.  Q.  C.,  Senator,  331;  on 
National  Education  Bill,  332. 

Lambert,  Edw.  \V.,  Dr.,  letter  to 
H.  W.  Blair,  115. 

“ Land,  labor,  and  liquor,”  Burgess, 
William,  Rev.,  105. 

Landras,  Dr.,  alcohol  as  food,  130. 

Langworthy,  Isaac,  D.  D.,  455,  456. 

Lansingburg,  N.  Y.,  292. 

Lathrop,  INIary  T.,  Mrs.,  President 
W.  C.  T.  U.  Michigan,  524,  portrait, 
286. 

Law  and  agitation,  339. 

“ Law  and  Order  League,”  496. 

Learning,  J.  R.,  Dr.,  Medical  Declara- 
tion, 124. 

Leavenworth,  Kansas,  woman’s  suf- 
frage, 418. 

Leavitt,  Mary  Clement,  Mrs.,  world’s 
missionary  W.  C.  T.  U.,  516;  por- 
trait, 276. 

“ Lectures  on  Alcohol,”  Richardson, 

20. 

Lee,  J.  W.,  Rev.,  470. 

Leeches  and  alcohol,  71. 

Lees,  Dr.,  denied  alcohol  a heat- 
maker,  36;  “ Alcoholic  Alphabet,” 
57,  58. 

Legislation  on  temperance,  right  of, 
examined,  382. 

Legislative  work  W.  C.  T.  U.,  514. 

Leitch,  M.  W.,  Miss,  W.  C.  T.  U.,  518. 

Leoser,  Charles  McK.,  198. 

Liberty  and  Revolutionary  War,  422. 

License,  high,  a failure,  Rembaugh, 
151;  philosophy,  353;  New  York 
City  a specimen,  363;  Herod,  Mo- 
loch, Juggernaut,  368;  License  is 
prohibition  in  a degree,  383. 

Liebig,  Baron,  decomposition,  7;  liv- 
ing organisms  in  vinous  ferinenta- 
tion,  8;  his  theory  that  alcohol  fur- 
nishes heat,  56;  his  theory  disproved, 
57 ; his  theory  without  basis,  Har- 
greaves, 74;  Liebig  ridicules  resort 
to  alcohol  as  food,  79;  “beer,  wine, 
and  spirits  not  vitalizing,”  80;  de- 
ceived by  surface  heat,  83;  “ wine 
expends  power,”  84;  Liebig  and 
beer,  129,  138;  alcohol  “respiratory 
food  confuted  by  others,”  130,  146; 
“ theory  untrue,”  147. 

Life,  a business  commodity,  98. 

Life  insurance  and  alcohol,  98;  and 
total  abstinence,  103,  108;  in  Eng- 
land, Dr.  Carpenter,  103,  139;  An- 
stie,  114;  testimonies,  109;  nine 
Presidents’  opinions  on  total  absti- 
nence and  mortality,  110. 

Life  insurance  companies  and  total 
abstinence,  100,  101;  should  use 
their  power  for  total  abstinence,  108. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  President,  admin- 
istration, 218. 

Linnams,  alcohol  destroys  man,  152. 


574 


INDEX 


Liquor  dealers  excluded  from  Knights 
of  Labor,  183;  are  they  “ respecta- 
ble ”?  1100 ; of  Massachusetts,  1125. 

“ Liquor  Dealers’  Association,”  351. 

“ Liquor  Problem  of  All  Ages,”  Rev. 
Daniel  Dorchester,  D.D.,  423,  435, 
etc. 

Liquor  traffic,  14,  199;  statistics,  1886, 
212,  213 ; of  the  world,  cost,  250. 

Liquors  at  ordinations,  1810,  425. 

Lisle  and  drink,  246. 

Litchfield , Connecticut,  Dr.  L.  Beech- 
er, 425. 

“Litchfield  Temperance  Society,” 
292. 

Literature,  Temperance  Department 
W.  C.  T.  U.,  515. 

Little,  H.  W.,  Rev.,  277. 

Liver  and  alcohol,  50,  91. 

Livermore,  Mary  A.,  Mrs.,  portrait, 
141. 

Liverpool,  alcohol  poisoning  cases,  73; 
merchant,  267. 

“ Liverpool  Sun  Association  ” and 
alcohol,  93. 

Livingstone,  265,  275. 

Locke,  W.  E.,  Mrs.,  W.  C.  T.  U., 
518. 

Logan,  John,  Senator,  317;  on  Na- 
tional  Education  Bill,  334. 

Lomax,  Thomas  H.,  466. 

London  beer  drinker,  80. 

“ London  Missionary  Association,” 

278. 

“ London  Sons  of  Temperance  ” and 
mortality,  106.  i 

“ London  Temperance  Congress,” 
1886,  259,  263. 

“ London  Temperance  Hospital,”  total 
abstinence  and  life,  102. 

“London  Times,”  alcohol  and  insur- 
ance, 93;  156,  231. 

Lonzoni,  alcohol  as  poison,  137. 

Lord,  Nathan,  D.D.,  President,  Dart- 
mouth College,  456. 

Lord’s  Supper  and  wine,  467,  515,  51S. 

Lorenz,  E.  S.,  Rev.,  on  “United 
Brethren,”  452. 

“ Loss  of  our  children,”  Roman  Cath- 
olic complaint,  481. 

Lot  and  Sodom,  2G8. 

Louisiana,  155,  202,  215;  illiteracy, 
308;  woman’s  suffrage,  eligible  to 
schools,  415. 

Lowell,  I)r.,  461. 

Lowell,  James  R.,  522. 

Lucas,  Margaret  B.,  Mrs.,  518. 

Lutheran  Church  and  temperance,  450. 

Lutheran  General  Synod,  1871,  450. 

Lvme,  N.  H.,  Kittredge’s  Address, 
428. 

Macedonian  Cry,  470. 

Mackintosh,  alcohol  and  cholera  in 
England,  86. 

Macnish,  Dr.,  malt  liquors  and  apo- 
plexy, 92. 

Madagascar  and  European  rum,  278, 

279. 

Madeira,  per  cent,  alcohol,  12. 

Madeira,  European,  per  cent,  alcohol, 

12. 

Madison,  391. 


Mahone,  Senator,  on  National  Educa- 
tion Bill,  334. 

Mahoney,  Father,  of  St.  Paul,  Minn., 
473. 

Maine,  155,  201,  202,  212,  223,  339,  513, 
534;  “ whisky  not  easily  obtained,” 
173;  illiteracy,  30S;  prohibition,  369;- 
“ not  a tavern  with  open  bar,”  370; 
“ prohibition  prohibits,”  370;  Maine 
law,  1851,  foil.,  436. 

Makemie,  Francis,  Rev.,  441. 

Malagasy  and  rum,  278. 

Malike',  King  of  Nupe,  letter,  270. 

Malt,  how  produced,  9;  malt  liquors 
on  the  increase,  81;  apoplexy  and 
palsy,  92;  prescribed,  111,  198,  199; 
malts  and  wines,  203,  204;  United 
States  malt  liquors,  214;  cost,  216; 
temperance,  200. 

“ Man  died  from  alcohol  in  four 
hours,”  72. 

Manchester,  England,  Reehabites  and 
reliefs,  101 ; Royal  Infirmary,  total 
abstinence  and  mortality,  102;  Odd 
Fellows  and  mortality,  106;  Cot- 
tons, 279. 

Manchester,  N.  H.,  72,  167,  174. 

Manhattan  Island,  366,  448. 

Mania  a potu  and  how  to  deal  with  it, 
54. 

Manipulation  of  liquors,  11;  Richard- 
son, 44. 

Manning,  Cardinal,  on  waste,  156,  480, 
482. 

Manufacture  of  liquor  considered,  342; 
to  be  destroyed,  432. 

Manufacturing  industries  of  United 
States,  176. 

Margaret,  a pauper,  162. 

Marietta  College,  307. 

Markham,  Dr., "alcohol  not  a supporter 
of  combustion,  83. 

Marmon,  P.,  Dr.,  alcohol  and  children, 
72. 

Marsala  wine,  European,  per  cent,  al- 
cohol, 12. 

Marsh,  John,  D.  D.,  293,  294,  456. 

Martin,  H.  M.,  Prof.,  “human  body,” 
on  food,  143. 

Martini  bullet  in  Burmah,  261. 

Maryland,  155,  202,  212;  illiteracv,  308, 
509. 

j Mason,  Theodore  L.,  Dr.,  Medical 
I Declaration,  124. 

! Masons  and  mortality,  107. 

I Massachusetts,  155,  202,  212,  509,  528, 
535;  pauperism,  161;  legislature  and 
liquor  dealers,  225;  prisons,  226; 
illiteracy,  308;  prohibition,  1635, 
360;  woman  suffrage,  school,  415; 
legislature,  “Fifteen-Gallon  Law,” 
433;  liquor  cases,  1847,434;  legisla- 
; tive  committee,  453;  saloons,  483. 

: “ Massachusetts  Board  of  Charities,” 

| 162;  crime  and  drink,  164. 

“Massachusetts  Board  of  Health,”’ 
162. 

“Massachusetts  Insane  Hospital,” 
alcohol  and  insanity,  93. 

“Massachusetts  Medical  Society,” 
1827,  427. 

“ Massachusetts  Society  for  Suppres- 
sion of  Intemperance,”  424,  442. 


INDEX 


575 


“ Massachusetts  Temperance  Alli- 
ance,” 453. 

“ Massachusetts  Temperance  Society,” 
1833. 

“ Materia  Medica, ” Stilld,  Dr.,  120. 

Mathew,  Father,  473,  480;  the  “ Hea- 
then Father  Mathew,”  274;  Bishop 
Ireland  the  “ Father  Mathew  of 
America,”  473. 

Maurice  of  Hesse  against  intoxication, 
292. 

Mauritius,  278,  279,  280. 

May,  Samuel  ,T.,  Rev.,  4G. 

McCrary,  J.  T.,  Rev.,  465. 

McDowell,  Mrs.  General,  W.  C.  T.  U., 
503. 

McGregor,  J.,  Sir,  on  alcohol,  120. 

McIntosh,  African  rum  traffic,  270. 

McLeod,  Professor,  on  alcohol,  120. 

McNeill,  George  E.,  wages,  181. 

McRae,  Arctic  use  of  alcohol  destruc- 
tive, 82. 

Medical  Declarations:  of  Great  Britain 
and  America,  119,  foil. ; English,  on 
alcohol,  1839,  119;  English,  on  alco- 
hol, 1847,  119;  English,  on  alcohol, 
1871,  120;  Montreal,  on  alcohol, 
1873,  121;  international,  on  alcohol, 
Philadelphia,  1876,  121;  on  alcohol, 
New  York,  Brooklyn,  122. 

Medical  press,  245. 

Medical  profession  responsible  for 
intemperance,  428. 

Medical  use  of  alcohol  a concession  to 
prejudice,  135. 

Medicine,  the  most  beneficial  science, 
16;  a free  art,  127;  medicine  defined 
by  Webster,  Worcester,  Dunglison, 
64;  medicines  defined,  Prof.  H.  N. 
Martin,  143. 

Meijerhelm,  Andersson,  Madam,  of 
Sweden,  518. 

Melbourne,  281. 

Merrick,  Mrs.  Judge  E.  T.,  President 
W.  C.  T.  U.  Louisiana,  520;  portrait, 
310. 

Merriweather,  Mrs.,  W.  C.  T.  U., 
520. 

Metcalfe,  William,  Rev.,  459. 

Methodism,  American,  began  as  total 
abstinence  society,  443. 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and  tem- 
perance, 443,  467. 

Methodist,  North,  1844,  445. 

Methodist  pastor  in  Japan,  264. 

Methodist  Protestant  Church  and  tem- 
perance, 453. 

Methodist,  South,  1844,  445,  469. 

Metschelich,  alcohol  as  poison,  137. 

Mexico,  250. 

Michigan,  155.  202;  liquor  traffic,  212; 
illiteracy,  308;  woman  suffrage,  414; 
woman  suffrage,  school,  415. 

“ Michigan  Board  of  Health,”  224. 

Middle  Ages,  pestilence,  266. 

Milam,  Kipo  (Mr.  Paul),  271. 

Millennium,  the  hope  and  faith, 
285,  417 ; not  yet  come,  413. 

Miller,  Emily  Huntington, W.  C.  T.U., 
511. 

Miller,  Professor,  on  alcohol,  120. 

Miller,  Senator,  of  New  York,  312 ; on 
National  Education  Bill,  334. 


Miner,  A.  A.,  Rev.,  256,  453. 

Minnesota,  155,  202;  liquor  traffic,  212; 
illiteracy,  308;  woman  suffrage, 
school,  415. 

“ Mirror  a Friend,”  Powderly,  188. 

“ Missionary  Herald,”  264. 

Mississippi,  155,  202;  liquor  traffic, 
212;  illiteracy,  308,  520. 

Mississippi  River,  380,  481. 

Mississippi  Valley,  461. 

Missouri,  155  , 202  , 337 ; liquor  traffic, 
212;  illiteracy,  308. 

Moderation  societies,  Kith  century, 
291;  Germany,  1517,  292. 

Mohammed,  the  Prophet,  271. 

Mohammedan  king  on  rum  traffic, 
270. 

Mohammedan  pledge,  277. 

Mohammedanism  interdicts  alcohol, 
126 ; Mohammedanism  in  India  and 
liquor,  258,  259;  in  Africa,  intem- 
perance forbidden,  266;  “ Moham- 
medan who  will  engage  in  rum 
traffic,”  427;  Mohammedanism  the 
moral  hope  of  Africa,  277 ; and 
drink,  277 ; Mohammedan  missions 
warring  against  Christian  gin  trade, 
280. 

Moir.  John,  Africa,  275. 

Molasses  used,  Unitedi  States,  215. 

Moleschott,  Professor,  alcohol  makes 
food  last,  refuted,  75. 

Moloch,  license,  368,  481,  526. 

Monroe,  A.,  Sir,  on  alcohol,  120. 

Monroe,  Dr.,  alcohol  retards  digestion, 
84. 

Montana,  202;  liquor  traffic,  212;  illit- 
eracy, 308. 

Montreal  Medical  Declaration,  Dr. 
Campbell  and  others,  121. 

Moore,  J.  J.,  D.  D.,  Bishop,  465. 

Moral  heredity,  “ four  generations,” 
96. 

Moral  suasion  and  law,  339,  385,  foll.h 
399. 

Moravians  and  temperance,  459. 

“ Morbid  effects  of  alcohol,”  Dr.  W. 
Dickinson,  85. 

Mormon,  518. 

“ Morning  Star,”  461. 

Morris,  j"  Reed,  Rev.,  449. 

Morse,  Verranus,  Dr.,  Medical  Declar- 
ation, 123. 

Mortality  and  total  abstinence,  108, 
118,  foil. ; Hargreaves,  139;  and  al- 
cohol, 224. 

Moselle  wine,  per  cent,  alcohol,  12. 

Mothers  and  motherhood  against  the 
rum  traffic,  398,  foil. 

Mulhall,  241. 

Mullen,  William  J.,  Hon.,  paper  to 
National  Congress,  164 ; prison  re- 
port, 226. 

Murray,  John  O’Kane,  Dr.,  Temper- 
ance Catechism,  475. 

Muscular  excitement  not  muscular 
power,  43. 

Muzzey,  Reuben  D.,  Prof.,  prize  essay, 
“ Alcohol  a Poison  in  the  System,” 
70;  distilled  liquors  rather  than 
cider,  wine,  and  beer,  86;  brandy 
and  cholera  on  Ohio  River,  86;  “ Ad- 
dress,” 427,  428. 


■576 


INDEX. 


Nanda  Lai,  Gosh,  203. 

Narcotics,  connected  in  effect,  145. 
See  Alcohol. 

Nasliua,  N.  H.,  drink  and  crime,  167. 

Natal,  270,  280,  400. 

Nathan  to  David,  471. 

“National  African  Company’s  ’’steam- 
ers, 260,  271. 

“National  Anti-Saloon  Committee,” 
417. 

“National  Dispensatory,”  Stille , Dr., 

“National  Life  Insurance  Company,” 
total  abstinence  and  mortality,  111. 

“National  Philanthropist,”  in  Boston, 
427;  William  Collier,  446. 

National  prohibition,  359,  304,  372, 
538;  necessity  argued,  370;  the  tran- 
scendent issue  of  the  hour,  449; 
crown  of  the  temperance  reform, 
458. 

National  Prohibition  Amendment, 
1870,  374;  bill,  375;  features  de- 
scribed, 390. 

National  Sunday-school  Convention, 
510. 

“ National  Temperance  Advocate,” 
488,  489. 

“National  Temperance  Society,  and 
Publishing  House,”  441,  4S0. 

Navy  to  extirpate  rum  traffic,  283. 

Nebraska,  202,  509;  liquor  traffic,  212; 
illiteracy,  308;  woman  suffrage,  414; 
woman  suffrage,  school,  414. 

Needham,  Dr.,  “ New  York  Asylum,” 
alcohol  and  insanity,  93. 

Nervous  Systems,  two,  Richardson,  26; 
and  alcohol,  49,  07,  08. 

“Neurological  Contribution,”  07. 

Nevada,  155,  202,  212;  illiteracy,  308. 

New  Britain,  Connecticut,  drink  and 
crime,  104. 

New  Calabar,  268. 

“ New  Emancipation,”  285. 

New  England,  173,  281 : and  South 
Africa  rum,  270 ; New  England  rum, 
529. 

New  Hampshire,  155,  202,  223,  517, 
534;  liquor  traffic,  212;  prison,  220; 
woman  suffrage,  school,  415;  liquor 
cases,  1847  , 434;  illiteracy,  308;  pro- 
hibition, 371. 

“New  Hampshire  Medical  Society,” 
427. 

New  Jersey,  155,  202;  liquor  traffic, 
212 ; illiteracy,  309. 

“New  Jersey  Baptist  Association,” 
1835,  447. 

Newman,  Mrs.  J.  P.,  W.  C.  T.  U., 
51S,  544,  portrait,  210. 

Newman,  Mrs.,  of  Nebraska,  W.  C. 
T.  U.,  524;  portrait,  409. 

New  Mexico.  202;  liquor  traffic,  212; 
illiteracy,  309. 

New  Orleans,  cholera  statistics,  87, 
520. 

New  South,  321,  etc. 

New  South  Wales.  281,  490. 

New  York  City,  cholera  statistics,  87; 
alcohol  and  mortality,  33  per  cent.,  j 
104,  155,  202,  230,  487,  515 ; crime  and  [ 
drink,  103;  drink  bill,  18G,  187;  ten 
thousand  saloons,  227 ; South  Afri-  I 


New  York  City,  continued. 
can  rum  traffic,  270;  more  destroyed 
than  confederacy,  301 ; “ city  of  sa- 
loons,” 363,  foil. ; map  of  saloons, 
303,  305;  “drinkeries, ” Talmage, 308; 
Assembly  districts,  365 ; fermented 
liquors,  360;  “ New  York  City  rules 
America,”  307;  “a  great  cancer  of 
rum,”  307;  crime,  476;  statue  of 
W.  E.  Dodge,  4S9. 

“ New  York  Board  of  Health,”  162. 

“ New  York  Board  of  Police  Justices,” 
103. 

“ New  York  City  Conference,”  466. 

“ New  York  City  and  its  Masters,” 
Robert  Graham,  304,  305. 

“New  York  Equitable  Life  Insurance 
Company,”  medical  examiner,  let- 
ter, 113. 

“ New  York  Grocer,”  N.  F.  Barrett, 
178. 

“ New  York  Lunatic  Asylum  and  alco- 
hol,” 93. 

“New  York  Medical  Declaration,” 

122. 

New  York  Medical  Journal  Associa- 
tion, 72. 

New  York  State,  legislative  message 
of  Dix,  104;  liquor  traffic,  212,  222, 
491,  509,  535;  illiteracy,  309;  woman 
suffrage,  414;  woman  suffrage, 
school,  415. 

“ New  York  Tribune,”  150,  157. 

New  Zealand,  282,  490,  491,  518. 

Nielson’s  statistics,  alcohol  and  mor- 
tality, 103,  104. 

Niger  River,  European  rum  traffic, 
207,  270. 

Nile,  265. 

Nitchin,  J.  H.,  total  abstinence  and 
life  insurance,  111. 

Nitrogen  aliments  easily  decomposed, 

7. 

“Norfolk  County  Association,”  1S82, 
400. 

“ North  American  Review,”  1875,  162. 

North  Carolina,  155,  202,  405;  liquor 
traffic,  212 ; illiteracy,  309. 

North  Georgia.  Methodist  Episcopal 
South  Church,  469. 

North  West  Territory,  1781,  330. 

Nugent,  Father,  480. 

Nupe,  in  Africa,  270,  273. 

OCEANICA,  281. 

Odd  Fellows  and  mortality,  102,  107. 

Ogston,  Dr.,  experiments  with  alcohol 
from  heart  of  woman,  50. 

Ohio,  155,  202,  223,  458,  504,  505,  509, 
515,  535;  liquor  traffic,  212;  Temper- 
ance Crusade.  274:  illiteracy,  309. 

Old  Calabar,  208,  209. 

Old  Man  of  the  Mountain,  271. 

Omaha.  234. 

“One  Hundred  YTears  of  Temper- 
ance,” 423,  441,  445,  447,  451,  455,  457, 
404,  470,  478,  488,  491,  490,  499. 

Ontario,  woman  suffrage,  municipal, 
410. 

Opium,  not  a food,  23;  opium  com- 
pany in  South  Africa,  275. 

Opolo,  20S. 

“Order  of  Temperance,”  15,  17,  292. 


INDEX. 


577 


Oregon,  155,  202,  509;  liquor  traffic, 
212;  illiteracy,  809 ; woman  suffrage, 
414 ; woman  suffrage,  school,  415. 

Orlila’s  theory  oi  alcohol  and  coagula- 
tion, 57. 

Organization  department,  W.  C.  T.  U., 
516. 

Ouida’s  opinions  of  women,  408. 

Oxford,  diocesan  temperance  anni- 
versary, 263. 

“Pacific  Medical  Journal,”  beer 
and  mortality,  111. 

Pagan  and  schools,  301. 

Paget,  James,  Sir,  of  London,  141. 

“ Paid  forty  shillings  to  be  hanged,” 
241. 

Paine,  W.,  Dr.,  alcohol  never  useful  as 
a medicine;  letter  to  H.  W.  Blair, 
140. 

Painter,  N.  H.,  307. 

“ Palace,”  Knights  of  Labor  and  rum, 
187. 

Palmer,  A.  B.,  Dr.,  letter  to  H.  W. 
Blair,  and  address,  140,  145,  148. 

Pandora’s  box,  343.  884. 

“ Panoplist,”  455,  450. 

Paralysis  from  alcohol,  92. 

“Paris  Constitutionel,”  240. 

“ Paris  Journal  Statistique,”  244. 

Parker,  T.  F.,  Rev.,  245,  250,  foil. 

Parker,  “Willard,  Dr.,  Medical  Decla- 
ration, 123;  “33  per  cent,  of  mortal- 
ity in  New  York  City,”  104. 

Parkes,  Professor  of  Nettley,  and 
Anstie,  60;  experiment  on  soldier, 
66;  experiment  on  increase  of  wine, 
on  heart,  27 ; alcohol  poisons  blood, 
84;  Medical  Declaration,  121;  India 
and  liquor,  258. 

Parliament  of  England,  373. 

Parlor  meeting,  W.  C.  T.  U.,  515. 

Parry,  Arctic  use  of  alcohol,  82. 

“ Particeps  criminis,”  the  State,  361. 

Partridge,  J.  A.,  workingman  and 
pauper,  157. 

Pastoral  letter  act,  475. 

Paul,  the  Apostle,  476;  at  Ephesus, 

220. 

Paulus  Mopeli,  the  Heathen  Gough  or 
Father  Mathew,  274. 

Pauperism,  225;  in  Massachusetts,  161; 
and  drink,  168. 

Pavy,  Dr.,  alcohol,  non-elimination, 
59. 

Peaslee,  E.  R.,  Dr.,  Medical  Declara- 
tion, 123. 

Peck,  B.  D.,  D.D.,  4G2. 

Pendleton,  Micajah,  First  Total  Ab- 
stinence Pledge,  293. 

Pennsylvania,  155,  202,  222,  458,  509; 
crime  and  drink,  165;  drink  bill  of 
one  county,  186,  187;  liquor  traffic, 
212;  illiteracy,  309;  West  Pennsyl- 
vania and  prohibition,  450;  drink 
bill,  “two  educations,”  229;  insur- 
ance report  and  mortality,  107. 

“Pennsylvania  Board  of  Charities,” 
162,  226. 

“ Pennsylvania  Citizens’  Association,” 
164. 

“Pennsylvania  Conference  Evangeli- 
cal Association,”  467. 


“Pennsylvania  Hospital  for  Insane,” 
alcohol  and  insanity,  93. 

“ Pennsylvania  Mutual  Life  Insurance 
Company,”  total  abstinence  and 
mortality,  111. 

Pepper,  Wm.,  Dr.,  “Medical  Prac- 
tice,” 158. 

Percy,  Dr.,  59;  dog  experiment,  57,  71, 
78;  alcohol  as  poison,  137;  alcohol 
on  heat  and  force,  146. 

Pereira,  Professor,  alcohol  a caustic 
poison,  71. 

Perrin,  Dr.,  59,  61 ; 1860,  alcohol  never 
food,  20;  investigation  on  alcohol, 
35;  investigation,  56;  lessens  muscu- 
lar force,  84;  alcohol,  132. 

Perry,  per  cent,  alcohol,  12. 

Persia  and  wine,  249. 

“ Personal  Liberty,”  337,  340;  not  to 
injure  one’s  self,  350;  not  to  get 
drunk,  392. 

Philadelphia,  drink  saloons,  154; 
prison,  164;  alcohol  and  murders, 
226,  220,  230,  367  , 466,  512;  Knights 
of  Labor  Headquarters,  187. 

Philadelphia  Centennial  of  Temper- 
ance, 1885,  478. 

Physicians,  alcohol,  71,  117,  127 ; the 
experts  on  alcohol,  17 ; physicians 
and  drinkers,  80 ; for  300  years  con- 
cealed alcohol,  117;  should  under- 
stand alcohol,  98;  responsible  for  its 
use,  98;  responsible  for  intemper- 
ance, 428;  “doctors  on  the  wrong 
side,”  Rembaugh,  150;  “should  de- 
stroy the  destroyer,”  Wilder,  148; 
should  they7  be  public  officers,  117. 

“ Physiological  action  of  alcohol,”  Dr. 
Monroe,  84. 

Pierrepont,  John,  Rev.,  46. 

Pitt,  Wm.,  destroyed  by  alcohol,  152. 

Pittsburg,  Penn.,  '230. 

Pittsburg  synod,  458. 

Playfair,  Professor,  beer,  129. 

Pledge,  total  abstinence,  Pendleton, 
293. 

Plutarch,  “ Heredity7  and  Alcohol,” 
96. 

Plymouth,  Connecticut,  ordination, 
Lyman  Beecher,  425. 

Poison,  defined,  Worcester,  Webster, 
Dunglison,  63;  Professor  Martin, 
143. 

Poles,  516. 

Political  meetings  held  in  saloon  in 
New  York  City7,  366;  next  door  to 
saloon,  366. 

Political  parties,  470,  499. 

“Political  prohibitionist,”  211. 

Pombi,  “ Alcohol  in  Africa,”  267. 

Pomeroy7,  Jesse,  example  of  heredity, 
95. 

Pond,  James  O.,  Dr.,  Medical  Decla- 
ration, 124. 

Poole,  Dr.,  alcohol  and  insanity, 
92. 

Pope  Leo  XIII.,  letter,  463,  474. 

Port  wine,  per  cent,  alcohol,  12,  44 ; 
European,  per  cent,  alcohol,  12. 

Porter,  percent,  alcohol,  12;  European, 
per  cent,  alcohol,  12;  comparison 
and  analysis,  80. 

Portugal,  wine,  249. 


57 


INDEX. 


Portuguese,  carry  rum  to  Africa,  264, 
267,  27G;  at  Berlin  conference  for 
rum,  271. 

Post,  Alfred  C.,  Dr.,  Medical  Declara- 
tion, 123. 

Powderly,  T.  V.,  letter,  183,  “which 
deserves  immortality,”  183;  speeches, 
478. 

Powell,  A.  M.,  editor  “ National  Tem- 
perance Advocate,”  250,  489;  por- 
trait, 199. 

Presbyterian  Church  and  Temperance, 
441;  the  leader,  442,  504,  512. 

Presidency,  India,  261. 

President  of  United  States,  duty  to 
Congo  Free  State,  282. 

Prevention,  Department  AY.  C.  T.  U., 
51G. 

Price,  Joseph  C.,  Prof.,  4G5. 

Price,  Rev.,  D.  D.,  Wesleyan  African, 
4G5,  4GG. 

Pringle,  R.,  surgeon,  2G1. 

Prison  and  Police  Department,  W.  C. 
T.  U.,  515. 

Prohibition,  not  new,  3G0;  not  sumpt- 
uary law,  answer  to  Vest,  338;  self- 
defence,  352;  in  ten  commandments, 
355;  total  abstinence,  439;  “ our 
only  salvation,”  Rembaugli,  153;  “a 
fig-tree,  not  a thistle,”  437;  prohibi- 
tion and  license,  354,  355;  prohibi- 
tion in  Sweden,  1753,  3G0;  in  Georgia, 
1883,  470,  583;  ‘and  manufactures, 
437;  prohibition  prohibits,  369;  pro- 
hibition national,  165;  prohibition 
amendment,  537 ; prohibition  party, 
465;  prohibition  national,  372,  foil. ; 
prohibition  of  manufacture,  378. 

Prometheus  and  Bacchus,  2. 

Propositions  on  rum  traffic,  349,  foil. 

Protestant  churches  and  temperance, 
441;  population,  471,  530 ; unanimous 
for  temperance,  472. 

Protestant  Episcopal  Church  and  tem- 
perance, 456. 

Prout,  Dr.,  alcohol  decreases  heat,  83; 
alcohol  in  heat  and  force,  146;  as 
food,  130. 

Provident  institutions  and  alcohol,  9S. 

Prussia,  518. 

Psalm  CXLVI.,  the  Crusaders’  Psalm, 
405. 

“ Public-house  triumphant,”  Times, 
231. 

Pugh,  Esther,  Miss,  treasurer  W.  C. 
T.  U.,  515,  51S,  524;  portrait,  523. 

Pugh,  James  L.,  Senator,  on  National 
Education  Bill,  331,  333. 

Purity,  department  W.  C.  T.  U.,  515. 

Putnam,  Israel,  Gen.,  and  temper- 
ance, 424. 

Quakers  and  Temperance,  441,  451. 

Queensland,  282,  518. 

Quilimane,  R.,  275. 

Quincy,  Mass.,  4G1. 

Radama  I.,  Madagascar,  279. 

Radama  II.,  Madagascar,  279. 

Railroad  employees,  department  W.  C. 

T.  U..  514. 

Railroad  rates,  department  W.  C.  T. 

U. ,  515. 


Raisin  wine,  per  cent,  alcohol,  12. 

Rangoon,  51G. 

Ransom,  Matthew,  Senator,  331;  on 
National  Education  Bill,  334. 

Rebellion,  War,  happily  over,  305. 

Rechabites  of  Manchester  and  death 
rates,  101;  and  Friendly  Societies, 
mortality^,  103,  104. 

Reconnoissance  for  W.  C.  T.  U.,  Mrs. 
Mary  C.  Leavitt,  516. 

Rectified  spirits,  111. 

Reformed  Dutch  Church  and  temper- 
ance, 448. 

Reformed  Episcopal  Church  and  tem- 
perance, 459. 

Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  and 
temperance,  408. 

Relative  statistics,  department  W.  C. 
T.  U.,  510. 

Religious  organizations  and  temper- 
ance, 440,  foil. 

Rembaugli,  A.  C.,  Dr.,  letter  to  H. 
W.  Blair,  150,  foil.  ; national  pro- 
hibition, 153. 

Representatives,  House  of,  219. 

Republican  party,  470,  500,  etc. 

Revenue,  more  from  prohibition  than 
from  license,  358. 

Revolutionary  War,  422,  510;  ‘‘Com- 
mon Sense,”  423. 

Rhine  wine,  per  cent,  alcohol,  12. 

Rhode  Island,  155,  202 ; liquor  traffic, 
212;  prison,  226;  illiteracy,  309; 
liquor  cases,  1847,  434. 

Richardson,  Benjamin  W.,  Dr.,  “ lect- 
ures on  alcohol,”  20;  tribute  to  Dr. 
Anstie,  22;  definition  of  alcohol,  4; 
per  cent,  alcohol  in  fermented 
liquors,  11;  distillation,  10;  on  alco- 
hol, 55,  132;  experiments,  27;  ex- 
periments on  alcohol  as  heat-mak- 
ing, 36,  foil.,  130;  reduces  heat,  83; 
alcohol  contains  no  nitrogenous  or 
constructive  power,  33;  alcohol  on 
bodily  structures,  nerves,  and  di- 
gestion, 47;  on  liver,  50;  on  mus- 
cular power,  experiments  with  frog, 
42,  43;  on  biood  and  nerves,  25,  26; 
absolute  alcohol  does  not  fatten, 
34;  supplies  no  force,  76;  alcohol  on 
various  organisms,  29,  30,  31;  An- 
stie examined,  22,  58;  Rembaugli, 
150;  alcohol  no  good  service,  66; 
manipulation  of  liquors,  44;  23, 159; 
“ Cantor  Lectures.”!,  36,  42,  43,  etc. 

Richardson,  E.  T.,  Dr.,  Medical  Dec- 
laration, 123. 

Richmond,  Knights  of  Labor,  187. 

Riddleberger,  Senator,  on  National 
Education  Bill,  333. 

Ringer,  Dr.,  alcohol  a paralyzant,  144. 

Ripley,  George  C.,  total  abstinence 
and  mortality,  110. 

Roach,  Clara  L.,  W.  C.  T.  U.,  51S. 

Rochard,  alcohol  in  France,  245. 

Rockland,  M.,  on  alcoholism  in  France, 
245. 

Rogers,  Stephen,  Dr.,  Medical  Decla- 
ration, 123. 

Roman  Catholic  population,  472; 
church  and  temperance,  472,  foil. 

Rome,  474. 

Ross,  A_rctic  use  of  alcohol,  82. 


INDEX, 


579 


Rothschild,  241. 

Roumania,  wine,  249. 

Royal  College  Physicians,  121. 

Royal  Medical  and  Chirurgical  So- 
ciety, Dr.  Dickinson,  85. 

Royal  Society,  proceedings,  experi- 
ments of  Parke  and  Wallowicz,  (i(i. 

Royal  Templars  of  Temperance,  499. 

Rum,  per  cent,  alcohol,  11,  12,  197, 
204;  “Rum  and  True  Religion,” 
529;  “Rum  Hospital,”  281;  rum 
traffic  as  business,  839,  347 ; and  law, 
341  ; anti-commercial,  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  280;  piracy,  540; 
penalty  for,  in  Nupe,  270. 

Rumsellers  “ systematically  destroy 
fellow-men,”  178. 

Rush,  Benjamin,  Dr.,  “Enquiry  into 
Effects  of  Ardent  Spirits,”  1785,  292, 
423,  424,  428,  441,  foil. ; “ Rush, 

Muzzey,  Davis,”  428. 

Russell,  Thomas  W.,  total  abstinence 
and  life  insurance,  110. 

Russia,  brandy,  249;  wine,  249. 

Ryan,  Archbishop,  of  Philadelphia, 
478. 

Sabbath  Observance,  department 
W.  C.  T.  U.,  514. 

Sabbath-scliool  work,  department  W. 
C.  T.  U..  514. 

Sabbotin.  Dr., alcohol,  elimination,  59. 

Sabine,  W.  T.,  Rev.,  459. 

Sacrament  and  wine,  407,  etc. 

Sacramento,  California,  230,  515. 

“ Sacred  Thirst  Society,”  475. 

Sainsbury,  alcohol  a paralyzant,  144. 

St.  Helena,  490. 

St.  John,  Governor,  528. 

St.  Louis,  230,  307. 

St.  Martin,  Alexis,  stomach  disclosed, 
87;  alcohol  on  his  stomach,  87. 

St.  Paul,  Minnesota,  473,  479. 

St.  Peter’s  Church,  474. 

St.  Petersburg  -hospitals,  alcohol  and 
delirium  tremens,  93;  brandy  shops 
in  18S6,  93. 

“ St.  Petersburg  Medical  Society,” 
Dr.  Herman,  93. 

Salford,  Bishop,  482. 

Salisbury,  N.  C.,  465. 

Saloon  City,  New  York,  361,  foil. 

Saloons,  liquor,  danger  of  the  repub- 
lic,.361,  365;  political  meetings,  30(5 ; 
studied,  361,  483;  160,000,  385. 

Samson,  381. 

Samuelson,  “ History  of  Drinkihg.” 

12. 

Sandwich  Islands,  256. 

San  Francisco,  307. 

“ Sanitary  Review  ” on  Rechabites, 

102. 

Saratoga,  193,  489. 

Satan  in  alcohol,  447. 

Scandinavia,  drink,  249,  516. 

“ Sceptre  Life  Insurance  and  total 
abstinence,  101. 

Schade,  Louis,  Hon.,  letter  to  H.  W. 
Blair,  199.  foil. 

Schools  and  t mperance,  302;  moral 
education,  299;  free  schools  and  the 
republic,  302;  schools  and  woman 
suffrage,  415. 


Schulimus,  Dr.,  doubts  on  alcohol,  21. 

Schulz,  alcohol  poisons  blood,  84. 

Schwartz,  431. 

Scientific  temperance  instruction,  303; 
department  W.  C.  T.  U.,  514. 

Scotland,  cholera  statistics,  87;  drink, 
239;  Covenanters,  468;  “ Good  Tem- 
plars,” 490. 

“ Scottish  Temperance  League,”  499. 

Second  Medical  Declaration,  Sir  Ben- 
jamin Brodie  and  2000,  119. 

Seelye,  Rev.,  President,  Amherst  Col- 
lege, 455. 

Senate  United  States,  179;  committee, 
172,  188. 

“ Sentinel,”  199. 

Servia,  wine,  249. 

“ Seven  goblets  a meal,”  292. 

“ Seventh  Day  Baptists  ” and  tem- 
perance, 460. 

Sewall,  Thomas,  Dr.,  alcohol  a poison 
to  stomach;  his  celebrated  colored 
diagrams  of  stomach,  etc.,  at  stages 
of  alcohol,  90;  diuf/ratns. 

Shaftesbury,  Lord,  alcohol  and  insan- 
ity, 92. 

Shakspeare,  343. 

“ Shame-water,”  Mohammedan  name 
for  intoxicating  liquor,  261. 

Shanghai  and  English  rum,  263. 

Shepard,  Dr.,  alcohol  and  insurance, 
93. 

Shepstone,  Theodore,  Sir,  on  South 
African  drinking,  272. 

Sherburne  Reformatory,  165. 

Sherman,  Senator,  on  National  Edu- 
cation Bill,  332. 

Sherry,  per  cent,  alcohol,  12,  44;  Euro- 
pean, per  cent,  alcohol,  12. 

Sibley,  Mrs.  Win.,  President  W.  C.  T. 
U.  of  Georgia,  520;  portrait,  293. 

Sierra  Leon,  276,  490. 

Sigler,  George,  Rev.,  464. 

Simpson,  Professor,  on  alcohol,  120. 

Slaveholding  and  Reformed  Presby- 
terian Church,  468. 

“ Slaves  and  gin,”  in  Africa,  266. 

Slave-trade  abolished  in  British  ter- 
ritory, 270;  Constitutional  provision, 
389;  and  rum  traffic,  282. 

Smith,  Andrew  II..  Dr.,  Medical  Dec- 
laration, 123;  alcohol  decreases  heat, 
84. 

Smith,  Edwin,  Dr.,  carbonic  acid  ex- 
haled, 40. 

Smith,  Hannah  Whitall,  Mrs.,  Amer- 
ican secretary  World’s  W.  C.  T.  U., 
518,  524 ; portrait,  259. 

Smith,  L.  O.,  ex-brandy  king  of 
Sweden,  156. 

Smith,  Stephen,  Dr.,  Medical  Decla- 
ration, 123. 

Snell,  Mrs.,  520. 

Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  391. 

Soldier,  experiment  of  alcohol,  66. 

Solomon,  241;  “ Wine  a Mocker,”  147. 

Song  and  success,  W.  C.  T.  U.,  521. 

“ Sons  of  Temperance,”  486,  492;  and 
mortality,  102;  in  London  and  mor- 
tality, 100;  diagram,  106. 

South  Africa  and  drink,  271,  277. 

South  African  Church,  465. 

South  American  States,  250,  490. 


INDEX. 


580 


South  Carolina,  155,  202;  liquor  traffic, 
212;  illiteracy,  300. 

Southern  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
and  temperance,  409. 

Southern  Mutual  Life  Insurance,  total 
abstinence  and  mortality,  111. 

Southern  States,  301,  494,  509,  535. 

Spain,  wine,  245,  249;  carries  drink  to 
Asia  and  Africa,  204. 

Spaniards,  510. 

Sphymographic  examination,  Davis, 
Dr.,  134. 

Spine  and  alcohol,  08. 

Spirits,  210,  221  ; in  Great  Britain, 
240;  English  physicians,  119;  spirits 
of  wine,  11. 

Springfield,  Mass.,  102. 

Stanley,  205. 

“ Star  of  Zion,”  400. 

State  and  alcohol,  299;  saloon,  361; 
license,  357 ; rum  traffic,  339,  foil.  ; 
“State  rights,”  394;  State  “has 
right  to  regulate  or  destroy  rum 
traffic,”  Taney,  United  States  Su- 
preme Court,  434 ; Appendix. 

“ State  Mutual  Life  Insurance,”  total 
abstinence  and  mortality,  111. 

“ Statisches  Jahrbuch,”  1882,  247. 

Statistics,  department  W.  C.  T.  U., 
515;  “ Statistics  of  Temperance  Bu- 
reau of  Statistics,”  195,  190. 

Stearns,  J.  N.,  public  agent  National 
Temperance  Society,  489;  portrait, 
108. 

Stevens,  L.  M.  N.,  President  W.  C. 
T.  U.  of  Maine,  515,  524;  portrait, 
339. 

Stevenson,  T.  P..  Rev.,  4(18. 

Stille,  Alfred,  Dr.,  liberal  views  on 
alcohol,  124;  letter  to  H.  W.  Blair, 
125. 

Stimulants,  “kept  alive  by”  — a fal- 
lacy, Davis,  130. 

Stomach  and  alcohol,  81,  87,  343; 
Sewall's  famous  colored  plates,  suc- 
cessive stages,  90.  See  also  Alcohol. 

Stow,  Timothy  D.,  of  Fall  River,  189. 

Strength  and  alcohol,  02;  not  produced 
by  alcohol,  43. 

Stuart,  Moses.  Professor,  456. 

Suffolk  county.  102,  "230. 

Suffrage,  “ human  suffrage,”  400; 
right  examined,  400;  discussed  at 
length,  qualifications,  402,  foil.  See 
Woman  Suffrage. 

Sugar  alone  yields  alcohol,  9;  27S; 
sugar-cane  for  rum,  279. 

Sumner,  Charles,  woman  suffrag  , 
410. 

Sumptuary  laws,  erroneously  con- 
founded with  prohibitory  laws  by 
Vest,  338;  defined  and  discrimi- 
nated. 338,  354,  391. 

Supreme  Court  United  States  on  pro- 
hibition, 383;  Appendix. 

Swan,  Roswell,  Rev.,  total  abstinence, 
450.  . 

Swartz,  Dr.,  on  Lutheran  prohibition, 
450. 

-Sweden,  liquors,  249,  490,  51S;  Swedish 
prohibition,  1753,300;  Smith,  L.  O., 
coffee-houses,  150. 

Switzerland,  wine,  249,  490. 


Switzler,  Colonel,  Bureau  of  Statis- 
tics, “ invaluable  services,”  196,  198, 
205,  200,  foil. ; report,  215,  217 ; 
world  consumption  of  liquors,  248. 

Synods  of  German  Reformed  Church, 
458. 

Syracuse,  New  York,  230. 

Table  or  Distilled  Spirits,  1863- 
1880,  197. 

Talmage,  De  Witt,  D.  D.,  against 
license,  368 ; portrait,  154. 

Tamotave,  279. 

Taney,  Roger  B.,  Chief  Justice  United 
States,  “ State  has  right  to  prohibit 
alcohol,”  434. 

Tanner,  Rev.  Dr.,  466. 

Tariff,  the  defence  of  American  labor, 
323. 

Tasmania,  281,  516. 

Tea,  beer,  gin,  129. 

Teller,  Senator,  on  National  Educa- 
tion Bill,  334. 

Temperance  societies  in  1835,  435; 
none  in  Russia,  249;  organizations, 
486;  forces  long  a “God-inspired 
mob,”  286;  temperance  movement 
now  international,  438;  temperance 
sermons  of  Humphrey,  455;  temper- 
ance education,  400;  in  schools,  302; 
temperance  education  law,  305. 

“Temperance  Congress,”  London, 
1886,  263. 

“ Temperance  and  General  Provident 
Institution,”  of  England,  139. 

“Temperance  Mutual  Benefit,”  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  mortality,  107. 

“Templars  of  Honor  and  Temper- 
ance,” 486,  496. 

Temple,  R.  Alder,  Rev.,  492. 

Temple,  J.  B.,  life  insurance  and  total 
abstinence,  111. 

“ Temples  of  Bacchus,”  Elizabeth 
Thompson,  219. 

Tennessee,  155,  202;  liquor  traffic,  213; 
illiteracy,  309,  520. 

Territories,  “ Education  Law,”  305. 

Texas,  155,  202,  212;  illiteracy,  309. 

Thames,  481. 

Thausig,  Professor,  249. 

“Therapeutics,”  Dr.  Edward  Stille, 
126. 

Third  Medical  Declaration  (English), 
George  Burrows  and  many  others, 
120. 

Thompson,  Dundas,  Dr.,  alcohol  re- 
tards digestion,  84. 

Thompson,  Edwin,  Rev.,  453. 

Thompson,  Elizabeth,  “Figures  of 
Hell,”  219,  521,  foil. 

Thompson.  E.  J.,  Mrs.,  W.  C.  T.  U., 
505;  “Mother  of  the  Crusade,"  por- 
trait, 505. 

Thompson,  J.  H.,  Judge,  505. 
i Thompson,  Joseph,  270,  280. 

Thompson,  J.  P.,  466. 

Thompson,  Professor,  on  alcohol,  120. 

Thomson,  A.  T.,  Dr.,  on  alcohol,  119. 

Thornley,  Dr.,  on  Rechabites,  101. 

Tliudicum,  Dr.,  doubts  on  alcohol,  20; 
experiments,  59. 

Tiffin,  O.,  synod,  25S. 

Tisserand,  249. 


INDEX. 


581 


Tobacco  at  ordinations,  425. 

Todd,  Dr.,  alcohol  retards  digestion,  84. 

“ Tokio  Christian  Weekly,”  2(i4. 

Topeka  speech,  Griffin,  woman  suf- 
frages, 417. 

Toronto,  drink  and  crime,  165. 

Total  abstinence,  287,  476;  and  prohi- 
bition, 459,  460,  464,  487  ; fundamen- 
tal, 288;  prevents  disease,  Har- 
greaves, 87 ; prevents  cholera,  87 ; 
life  expectancy,  Neilson,  103,  104; 
life  insurance,  99,  101 ; vital  statis- 
tics, Rev.  Dawson  Burns,  100;  late 
evolution  of  Christian  civilization, 
290;  Calvin  Hill,  1812,  456;  organi- 
zations, 1833,  203;  Washingtonian 
movement,  1840,  435;  “ total  absti- 
nence and  total  prohibition,”  460, 
464. 

“ Tramps  ” and  drink,  162. 

Transkei,  272. 

Transvaal  and  railroad,  275. 

Trimble,  ex-Governor,  505. 

Trudel,  E.  H.,  Prof.,  on  alcohol,  Mont- 
real Medical  Declaration,  121. 

Tumba,  palm  wine,  269. 

Turkey,  wine,  249,  518;  harem,  368. 

Turtle  and  alcohol,  71. 

Ulster  County,  New  York,  Pauper, 
162. 

“Union  Signal,”  W.  C.  T.  U.,  179, 
209,  515,  517,  519. 

Unitarian  Church  and  temperance,  460. 

“ Unitarian  Temperance  Association,” 
499. 

“United  Brethren,”  and  mortality, 
107;  temperance,  451;  prohibition, 
452. 

“United  Kingdom  Alliance,”  499. 

United  Kingdom  and  drink,  239,  250. 

“United  Kingdom  Temperance  and 
Provident.  Institution,”  composed  of 
total  abstainers,  99;  tables,  99,  100. 

“United  Presbyterian  Church,”  Gen- 
eral Assembly,  464. 

“ United  Societies  of  Methodists  ” and 
temperance,  443. 

United  States,  population,  250;  Ro- 
man Catholics,  etc.,  472;  manufac- 
turing industries,  176,  177,  230;  real 
estate,  222;  illiteracy,  1880,  tables, 
305,  foil.',  wine,  249;  malt  liquors, 
199;  wines  and  malts,  198;  drinks 
and  productions,  diagram,  232;  dis- 
tilleries, 1792,  424;  drink  shops  and 
dwellings,  230;  saloons  to  popula- 
tion, 155;  consumption  of  liquor, 
201,  251;  sales,  202;  statistics  of 
spirits,  1863-86,  197 ; statistics  of 
traffic,  1886,  212,  213;  drink  bill, 
real  estate  and  personal  property, 
1880,  235,  236;  cost,  178,206,207,  217, 
480,  510;  drunkards,  223 ; rum  traffic 
to  Africa,  276;  to  Congo,  266;  re- 
sponsibility for  rum  traffic,  378 ,foll.; 
alcohol  and  insurance,  mortality 
rates,  94,  etc. 

United  States  Board  of  Excise,  364. 

United  States  Brewers’  Association, 

201. 

United  States  Census,  1860,  220;  1870, 
228;  1880,  182,  218,  229. 


United  States  Commissioner  of  Edu- 
cation, 225. 

United  States  Congressional  Temper- 
ance Society,  445. 

United  States  Constitution,  434. 

United  States  House  of  Representa- 
tives, woman  suffrage,  416;  National 
Education  Bill,  307,  etc. 

United  States  Life  Insurance,  total 
abstinence  and  mortality,  110. 

United  States  Liquor  Enquiry  Com- 
mission, 179. 

United  States  Senate,  Committee  on 
Capital  and  Labor,  209;  Commit- 
tee on  Education  and  Labor,  374; 
woman  suffrage,  414,416,  etc. ; “ Pro- 
hibition Amendment,”  374 ; 179, 188, 
537.  See  also  Prohibitory  Amend- 
ment, National  Education  Hill, 
Woman  Suffrage,  and  Senators’ 
names. 

United  States  Supreme  Court,  434; 
Appendix. 

Universalist  Church  and  temperance, 
453. 

Ure,  A.,  Dr.,  queen’s  physician,  -on 

- alcohol,  119;  -Medical  Declaration, 
71. 

Ustick,  M.  V , Miss,  W.  C.  T.  U.,  507. 

Utah,  202,  213;  illiteracy,  309;  woman 
suffrage,  415. 

Vale,  John,  281. 

Vance,  Zebulon,  Senator,  331;  on  Na- 
tional Educational  Bill,  333. 

Vermont,  155,  201,  202,  534;  liquor 
traffic,  213;  illiteracy,  309;  prohibi- 
tion, 269,  371;  woman  suffrage, 
school,  415,  41 6,  foil. 

Vest,  George,  Hon.,  “sumptuary 
laws,”  definition  as  prohibition  dis- 
proved, 337. 

Viborg,  alcohol  as  poison,  137. 

Vice-President  Henry  Wilson,  456. 

Vices  and  crimes,  346;  when  amenable 
to  law,  346. 

Victoria,  Oceanica,  281. 

“ Victoria  Alliance,”.  Melbourne,  281. 

“Victoria  Life  Insurance”  and  total 
abstinence,  101. 

Vikings,  43. 

Vineland,  N.  J.,  no  saloons,  164. 

Vinous  fermentation,  first  form  of 
alcohol,  2;  chiefly  produces  alcohol, 
living  organisms,  Berzelius  and  Lie- 
big, 8;  from  sugar,  Duplain,  Four- 
croy,  Hargreaves,  9. 

Virchow,  alcohol  poisons  the  blood,  84. 

Virginia,  155,  202;  liquor  traffic,  213; 
293;  illiteracy,  309;  prohibition, 
1676,  360. 

“ Vital  statistics  of  total  abstinence,” 
Rev.  Dawson  Burns,  100. 

“Voice,”  prohibitory  organ,  on  life 
insurance,  109,  215. 

Voorhees,  Senator,  on  National  Educa- 
tion Bill,  332. 

Wages  and  Living,  McNeill,  181. 

“Wages  paid  in  spirits,”  by  Portu- 
guese, 275. 

Waite,  Henry  R.,  illiteracy,  tables, 
309. 


INDEX. 


582 


Wales,  “ Good  Templars,”  490. 

Wallace,  Zeralda,  Mrs.,  Superintend- 
ent Woman  Franchise  Departs 
ment  W.  C.  T.  U.,  524;  portrait, 
401. 

Waller,  Horace,  foreign  rum  in  Af- 
rica, 266,  foil.,  271,  273. 

Wallowiez,  experiment  with  alcohol 
on  soldier,  66;  wine  on  heart,  27,  20. 

Walthall,  Senator,  of  Georgia,  on  Na- 
tional Education  Bill,  331. 

War  of  Rebellion,  222,  321. 

Ward,  Mrs.  Judge,  W.  C.  T.  U.,  518. 

Ware,  Henry,  Jr.,  D.  D.,  461. 

Washington  City,  283,  524. 

Washington,  George,  391,  524. 

Washington,  Ohio,  507. 

Washingtonian  Temperance  Move- 
ment and  Society,  1840,  moral  sua- 
sion and  not  law,  435;  opposed  legal 
restraint,  436 ; therefore  failed,  402, 

Washington  Territory,  202:  liquor 
traffic,  213;  illiteracy,  309;  woman 
suffrage,  414;  in  1883,  415. 

Waterloo.  527. 

Wayland,  Francis,  President,  on  pro- 
hibition, 1883,  445. 

Waynesburg,  508. 

Webb,  Janies  A.,  198. 

Webster  defines  alcohol,  31;  poison, 
food,  medicine,  63,  64,  etc. 

“ We  have  tried  it  — graphiplione,” 
217. 

Wells,  C.  L.,  D.D..  449. 

Wesley,  John,  and  temperance,  443, 
foil. 

Wesleyans  and  temperance,  465. 

West,  Mary  Allen,  Mrs.,  W.  C.  T.  U., 
519;  editor  of  “ Union  Signal,”  519; 
portrait,  268. 

West  Africa  and  foreign  rum,  267. 

West  Indies,  490. 

West  Virginia,  155,  202;  liquor  traffic, 
213;  illiteracy,  309. 

Westchester,  227. 

“ Western  Brewer,”  249. 

Westminster  Abbey,  280. 

Whisky,  11;  per  cent,  alcohol,  12; 
European,  per  cent,  alcohol,  12; 
analysis  and  comparison,  80 : whisky, 
rye,  197,  204,  207 ; in  hay  fever,  Dr. 
Alexander  Wilder.  150.  ' 

White,  Armenia,  Mrs.,  W.  C.  T.  U., 
524;  portrait,  250. 

Whitney,  Mrs.  Dr.,  W.  C.  T.  U„  524. 

“Whittington  Life  Insurance  Com- 
pany ” and  total  abstinence,  101. 

Wifehood  and  motherhood  against 
rum  traffic,  398. 

Wilberforce,  Canon,  portrait.  27. 

Wilder,  Alexander,  Dr.,  alcohol,  cura- 
tive effect,  148;  letter  to  H.  W. 
Blair,  149,  150.  ' 

Willard,  Frances  E.,  Miss,  President 
W.  C.  T.  U„  511,  512,  515,  516,  518, 
520,  522;  portrait,  511. 

Willard,  Mary  A.  B.,  W.  C.  T.  U., 
518,  519. 

Williams,  Dr.,  alcohol  poisons  blood, 
84. 

Williams.  Senator,  on  National  Edu- 
cation Bill,  333. 


Willing,  Jennie  F.,  W.  C.  T.  U., 
511. 

Wilson,  Henry,  Vice-President  Uni- 
ted States,  456. 

Windom,  William,  Hon.,  on  saloon, 
361;  portrait,  18.’ 

Wine,  first  form  of  alcohol,  2;  “wine- 
god,  wine  cup  and  wine,”  2;  claim 
of  invention,  Egypt,  Greece,  and 
Rome,  2;  comparison  and  analysis, 
80;  expends  power,  Liebig, * 84; 
Muzzey,  86;  raisin  wine,  per  cent, 
alcohol,  12 ; wine  and  alcohol  in 
Materia  Medica,  Stille,  Dr.,  126; 
English  physicians,  119;  wines  and 
malts,  203;  progressive  effect,  27,  28, 
29;  palm  wine,  269;  Spanish  wines, 
245;  Italian  wines,  245;  high  wines, 
197,  204,  207;  production  of  the 
world,  249;  cost,  216;  United  Slates 
wine  bill,  207;  wine  drinking  in 
Persia,  Cochrane,  Labaree,  249,  250; 
wine  forbidden  to  Greek  women, 
96:  wine  and  St.  Martin,  89;  wine 
at  Lord’s  Supper,  127,  467,515;  221, 
239. 

“ Wine  and  Spirits  Traders’  Society,” 
New  York,  198. 

Wisconsin,  155,  202;  liquor  traffic,  213; 
illiteracy,  309,  509. 

Wittenmyer,  Annie,  Mrs.,  W.  C.  T. 
U.,  512,  515. 

Woman  and  child  the  great  sufferers 
from  rum  traffic,  396,  397 ; woman’s 
war  for  the  home,  398;  the  support 
of  charity  and  religion,  408;  the 
educator  of  the  race,  408;  woman, 
inebriety,  L.  M.  Hall,  165;  in  in- 
tellect, equal  of  man,  in  art,  science, 
and  literature,  408;  in  office,  no  mal- 
i feasance,  Iowa,  Louisiana,  General 

Grant,  415;  inebriety  increasing 
among  women,  397. 

; Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Un- 
| ion.  chapter  xxiv. ; motto,  “For 

God,  for  home,  for  native  land,” 
j 299;  and  education,  304;  and  na- 
tional education,  336  , 40S;  exhibi- 
| tion  of  woman’s  capacity  for  action, 
40S,  469,  486,  502,  510,  512,  foil.  ; 
departments,  514,  foil. ; in  national 
| prohibition,  283;  officers,  514.  foil. 

| W.  C.  T.  U.  Home,  Chicago,  519. 

Woman’s  Exchange,  dej)artment  W. 

| C.  T.  U..  515. 

j Woman  suffrage,  title  to  the  franchise, 
405;  enfranchisement,  399;  indis- 
pensable to  prohibition,  399;  moth- 
erhood a reason,  not  objection,  409, 
410,  foil. ; “ schism  in  families  ” 

confuted,  413;  “woman  does  not 
desire  it,”  examined,  412;  “woman 
can  attend  church,  why  not  the 
polls?”  410;  petition  to  New  York 
Legislature,  1S35. 1846,  414 ; petitions 
to  Congress,  416;  United  States 
Senate  Report,  405,  414;  woman  suf- 
frage amendment,  1865,  416,  396; 
woman  suffrage  in  experience,  414: 
Wyoming,  Washington,  Kansas, 
Michigan,  Colorado,  Nebraska, 
Oregon,  414;  school  suffrage  in 
eleven  States,  415;  municipal  in 


INDEX. 


583 


"Woman  suffrage,  continued. 

Great  Britain  ami  Ontario,  Canada, 
416.  See  the  entire  chapter. 

Woman’s  Temperance  Publishing 
Association  W.  C.  T.  U.,  517. 

Woodbridge,  Mary  A.,  Mrs.,  record- 
ing secretary  National  W.  G.  T.  U., 
515,  524;  portrait , 517. 

Woodruff,  C.  S.,  Rev.,  496. 

Woods,  Leonard,  D.  D.,  456. 

Woodstock  speech  of  Senator  Win- 
dom,  361. 

Worcester,  Samuel,  D.D.,  456. 

Worcester  defines  alcohol,  3;  poison, 
food,  medicine,  63,  64. 

Worcester,  Mass,  5-8. 

World,  consumption  and  cost  of  drink, 
251,  253. 

“Worse  than  wasted,”  Hargreaves, 
150. 


Wyoming  Territory,  202,  213;  illit- 
eracy, 309;  woman  suffrage,  414,  415. 

Xenia,  O.,  509. 

Yale  College,  456. 

“ Yearly  meeting,”  1874,  Friends,  451. 

Yellow  fever,  381. 

Yorktown  the  final  victory,  193;  fur- 
ther up  the  Potomac,  246,  395. 

Youmans,  Letitia,  W.  C.  T.  U.,  518. 

Yhung,  Dr.,  Bureau  of  Statistics,  215, 

222. 

“ Youth’s  Temperance  Banner,”  488. 

Zambesi  River,  275. 

Zimmerman,  Charles  H.,  Rev.,  drink 
bill,  179,  209 211. 

Zion  VYesley  College,  465,  406. 

“ Zouaves  of  Heaven,”  461. 


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